Held at RAAF Base Richmond over the weekend, the event attracted around 80,000 people and featured both static and aerial displays such as the F-35A Lightning II, F/A-18F Super Hornet, E-7A Wedgetail, P-8 Poseidon, and No. 100 Squadron’s heritage aircraft.
Black Hawk A25-112, originally produced by American defence company Sikorsky, was operated by the Australian Defence Force alongside other aircraft seeing operational service in Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, East Timor and Pakistan.
The exercise, which wrapped up last month, involved collective training and offensive counter air activity at bases Tindal and Darwin, including live weapon drops at the Delamere Air Weapons Range and co-ordination with the Surveillance and Control Training Unit at Base Williamtown.
According to the Australian Government, the visit was more than just a demonstration of Australia’s defence aircraft, as it offered a display of bilateral allyship in the Indo-Pacific while stability in the South China Sea remains fractured.
Exercise Thai Boomerang 25, which ran from 8 to 18 September, concluded for the year with a closing ceremony at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base. Around 140 RAAF personnel were among the more than 500 participants in the bilateral activity, now in its 15th iteration.
The announcement comes as the US Navy prepares to keep the Super Hornet in frontline service well into the 2040s, despite earlier plans to curtail production, and has direct implications for Australia.