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Pitch Black 2022
International interoperability exercise in Pacific
by Staff Sgt. Savannah Waters
R OYAL AUS T R AL I AN A I R F O RC E
BASE DARWIN, Australia (AFNS)—Approximately 110 Pacific Air Forces Airmen participated in exercise Pitch Black 2022, the Royal Australian Air Force Chief of Air Force’s biennial capstone international engagement activity with forces drawn from a wide range of regional, coalition and allied nations. This year, 17 nations participated in PB22 from Aug. 19 to Sept. 8.
The exercise focused on the tactical execution of Large Force Employment Offensive Counter Air and Counter Land operations in a multi-national coalition environment to en-
See PITCH BLACK, Page 8
Photo by Staff Sgt. Savannah L. Waters
U.S. Air Force Capt. Ross Kohler, 67th Fighter Squadron F-15 Eagle pilot, takes off during Exercise Pitch Black 2022 at Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin, Australia, Sept. 7. PB22 is the latest in long standing, multilateral exercises designed to enhance participating countries’ air operations. This year, 17 nations are participating in PB22, and is scheduled from Aug. 19 to Sept. 8.
by Airman 1st Class Veronica McMahon
325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.—The 17 personnel assigned to Tyndall’s 53rd Weapons Evaluations Group, 53 Test Support Squadron Special Devices Flight design, create, build and test their own products which they develop for the Air Force test agencies. Their efforts have resulted in many huge projects throughout the years.
The most recent project, the Self-Towing Reusable Engagement Target Coverage Haft Pod for towing the aerial gunnery target practice banner, completed its first successful test flight Feb. 25 here. This was the first time the F-15 towed the banner for aerial gunnery training and is the start to get this capability out to the Combat Air Forces.
“The STRETCH Pod is a perfect example of the unique capabilities Special Devices Flight brings to the table,” said Capt. William Hope, 325th Special Devices flight commander. “We’re talking about a system which required extensive machining and sheet metal work, along with an onboard central processing unit programmed in-house.”
The STRETCH Pod is designed to tow the TDU-32 banner; the banner is 8 feet by 40 feet and is towed 2,000 feet in trail the F-15. This spacing in trail provides a safety margin when conducting aerial gunnery training.
“Around 1996, the Air Force’s F-15 stopped practicing aerial gunnery training at home station,” said Lt. Col. Terry ‘Stretch’ Scott, 53 Weapons Evaluation Group Deputy Commander and master-mind behind the new product. “In 2002 the Air-to-Air Gunnery Program was reinvigorated by starting the Combat Banner program. The object of the STRETCH Pod is so fighter units can self-tow the banner for their Ready Aircrew training requirements.”
Colonel Scott has been working the Banner program since 1999 and was proud of the final banner’s test flight.
“The test flight was uneventful,” said the colonel. “It was as good as any test flight could get. It worked like a champ and did exactly what I thought it would.”
After an extensive engineering assessment and successful flight test, the STRETCH Pod earned a flight recommendation from the Air Force Seek Eagle office at Eglin AFB and is currently awaiting formal flight clearance authorization for local use of the pod at Tyndall.
“This is a complete in-house project,” said Tech. Sgt. Paul Noblit, 53 TSS Special Devices Flight chief. “Everything on it was done at the fabrications shop.”
The fabrications shop is only one of the three areas which binds the Special Devices Flight together; engineers and avionics specialists also
