RAAF commander praises NORFORCE troops who recovered ejected Italian pilot in bushland

When a special Army unit heard an Italian fighter jet had crashed nearby, the soldiers immediately changed their mission, scrambling through the bush to find the stranded pilot.

An Italian fighter jet, similar to the pictured Spanish Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon, crashed in near the Daly River community in July, triggering a search and rescue operation. (Photo by Nikolay DOYCHINOV / AFP).

A team of Aussie soldiers who were out in the field scrambled through the bush to join the desperate search and rescue mission to find the Italian air force pilot who had ejected over the Daly River Region.

On the morning of July 24 this year, an Italian pilot bailed from his Eurofighter Typhoon F-2000 after experiencing a sudden issue with his airframe.

While the multimillion-dollar jet ploughed into pastoral land near the Daly River community, the pilot drifted to the ground in his parachute, landing deep into the outback bushland.

Soldiers from NORFORCE scrambled through the bush to find an Italian pilot who bailed from his Eurofighter Typhoon F-2000.

In the days that followed, little was revealed of the search and rescue effort that followed, except that the Italian pilot was found safe and in good spirits.

Now, more than three weeks since the near miss, new details have emerged that the Australian Army’s North-West Mobile Force (NORFORCE) unit were among the first to join the search and rescue effort, despite having no involvement in Exercise Pitch Black 2024 whatsoever.

At the time of the crash, NORFORCE personnel were patrolling the surrounding regions of Wadeye as part of a live operation, when they were made aware of the downed jet.

Realising they were close to the crash site, the troops changed mission and scrambled through the bush at speed in a bid to find the stranded pilot.

Using GPS, compass and map, the Diggers arrived at the site just before night.

A still image of the NORFORCE troops linking up with NT Police and RAAF members to continue the search. Picture: Supplied.

NORFORCE commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Matt Cooper said he was proud of his troops for their efforts.

“I am obviously very proud of the patrol and regiment’s conduct, in particular their operational readiness that enabled them to respond so quickly whilst executing a separate mission under Program Vigilant,” he said.

“We work closely with the RAAF, local authorities and remote communities on a routine basis, and I view support to RAAF remote-area search and rescue as a standing NORFORCE operational task, just as it was for the Nackeroos during WWII.”

2/1st North Australia Observer Unit, nicknamed the Nackeroos, was formed at the height of WWII to conduct reconnaissance operations across northern Australia.

NORFORCE members.

Air Commodore Pete Robinson praised the contributions of the proactive soldiers.

“I was made aware NORFORCE had appropriately made contact with the search and rescue team, offered assistance and made decisions to be best placed to support the downed Italian aviator,” he said.

“It’s a credit to the professionalism of these Army members that they saw what was happening and rendered assistance to a mate in need.”