The IAF Pitch Black Udara Shakti deployment has concluded, with the Indian Air Force closing out back to back multinational exercises that carried its contingent from northern Australia to the edge of Kuala Lumpur. Defence sources said the two engagements, run within weeks of each other, saw the same Rafale detachment operate first over the Royal Australian Air Force's premier air combat exercise and then fly on to a bilateral round with the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

The dual nation run widened the contingent's operational reach and sharpened its tactical coordination with two very different partner air forces.

The IAF Pitch Black Udara Shakti run begins over Australia's Top End

Exercise Pitch Black 2026 was hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Indian Air Force deployed its frontline Rafale fighters to fly alongside air forces from more than 20 participating nations. The contingent executed complex Large Force Employment missions in a high threat, multi domain environment, one of the largest air combat drills the IAF takes part in outside its own borders.

A first outing for the Rafale on this circuit

India has sent a contingent to Pitch Black in every edition since 2018, flying the Su-30MKI each time before this year. The 2026 edition marked the Rafale's first appearance at the exercise, a debut newsonair.gov.in flagged when the aircraft first touched down in Australia. IDW reported the exercise's own conclusion earlier this month.

A direct transit to Subang for Udara Shakti 2026

From Australia the contingent moved directly to Subang, Malaysia, for Exercise Udara Shakti 2026, without returning home in between. Air warriors flew high intensity combat sorties and joint tactical manoeuvres alongside the Royal Malaysian Air Force, operating with and against the RMAF's Su-30MKM and F/A-18 Hornet aircraft. The bilateral engagement centred on refining air combat tactics, running subject matter expert exchanges and optimising combined operational flexibility between the two forces.

Subang is familiar ground for the two air forces. IDW carried the opening leg of this year's edition when the exercise got under way there earlier in the month.

Engagement across a busier Indo-Pacific calendar

The IAF Pitch Black Udara Shakti sequence follows a pattern the service has used before, extracting a second engagement from a single long range deployment rather than despatching separate contingents from India. It sits alongside a wider run of Indian defence engagement with Southeast Asia through 2026, from Su-30 focused air exercises to the broader defence diplomacy IDW has tracked in the region.

Malaysia's own edition of Udara Shakti has run on a two year cycle since 2018, with the Su-30MKI facing the RMAF's Su-30MKM in each prior instalment.

Cooperation beyond the cockpit

Joint activity across both legs of the deployment went further than flying hours. Maintenance practices, mission planning exchanges and cultural interactions ran through both engagements, drawing personnel of different ranks from all three services into contact with their counterparts.

Engineers, controllers and other subject matter experts compared notes alongside the aircrew throughout, an exchange credited with building professional camaraderie across the two contingents.