The most distant deployment of the Spanish Air Force in Australia and New Zealand

@DefAviation ES 7·24·2024 · 22:00 0

The major Pacific Skies deployment is taking the Air Forces of Germany, Spain and France around the world.

An excellent report from the Spanish Air Force about its deployment in Alaska
Pacific Skies, the largest aerial deployment of the Spanish Air Force in decades

After the initial stopover in Canada and its passage through Alaska, where European aviators participated in the Arctic Defender exercise together with the US Air Force, the Pacific deployment Skies arrived in Japan and finally in Australia and New Zealand, the most distant from the deployments that Spanish military aviation has made in its entire history.

In Australia, airmen have met with a large aviation community at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base in Darwin, next to the most populated city in the Northern Territory, for the exercise Pitch Black. This Monday, the RAAF dedicated a video to the arrival of the airmen from Germany, Spain and France, in which we can see Captain Fernando Rojas Sevillano, of the Air Force, making some statements in English. Some images of Spanish Eurofighters also appear:

In this video from Aviation Photography Digest we can see the arrival in Darwin of Pacific Skies deployment aviators:

The Australian Department of Defense has published a series of photos from this exercise, in which we can see some images of the Spanish aircraft upon their arrival at Darwin Air Base, specifically Eurofighters from the 11th Wings and 14.

In addition, the Australian Department of Defense has published these photos of a formation flight of fighter aircraft from nine different countries, including Spain, during the Pitch Black exercise. The formation is led by a RAAF F-35A Lightning II, followed on its right by a Spanish Eurofighter and on its left by a Thai JAS-39D Gripen. We can also see an F-15K Slam Eagle (South Korean version of the F-15E), an Indonesian F-16, an Italian F-35, a Malaysian F/A-18D Hornet, a British Eurofighter and an F-22A Raptor from the USAF.

In addition, three A400M Atlas (one German, one Spanish and one French) arrived in New Zealand this tuesday, in a visit to Ohakea Air Base, on the Island North. The Spanish delegation has had the participation of General Mandonado, from the Air Combat Command (MACOM). The Air Force has published the photos of this visit today:

This is a historic moment for Spanish military aviation, since as the Army of the Aire, it is the first time that a Spanish A400M lands in New Zealand.

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Photos: Australian Department of Defence / Ejército del Aire.