By Raïssa Robles
The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is also a way for the United States to test its latest piece of equipment – the P-8 Poseidon – “a militarized version” of the civilian Boeing 737 that can play multiple roles — one of them electronic intelligence and surveillance. The P-8 was only delivered to the 7th Fleet last December.
I was able to attend this afternoon’s briefing of the Commander of the US Seventh Fleet Vice Admiral Robert Thomas Jr., on the search and rescue mission. It was held on board the fleet’s command and control ship, the USS Blue Ridge.
I’d like to share with you guys some clips that I took of the briefing.
Thomas said the search was being done systematically, like “mowing a lawn.”
Another ship official later told me the job is like looking for a few men in an area between California and New York. UPDATE, the name of the official who answered my question is US Navy 7th Fleet spokesman Commander William Marks. Thanks, Jason Gutierrez of Agence France Presse for supplying his name and the exact quote:
“If you superimpose a map of the United States from the northern part of the Indian Ocean to the southern part of Australia, it is as if we are looking for a few people somewhere between New York and California and we don’t know where (they are).”
Thomas said they are confining their search to what’s on the surface of the seas, not under water or over land.
And the search will go on indefinitely.
And the search will go on indefinitely.
Bongklok says
I also wonder why nobody ever noticed that the supposed flight path of MH370 to the southern portion of the Indian Ocean is a few hundred kilometers west of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian territory. It is directly south of Indonesia.
The Cocos Islands are touted as a tourist destination for Australians (via Christmas Island). In reality, this is a military base jointly operated by US and Australia. Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocos_(Keeling)_Islands)
Strategic importance
The Cocos Islands are geostrategically important because of their proximity to Indian Ocean and South China Sea shipping lanes.[25] The United States Armed Forces have planned to construct airbases on the Cocos Islands, capable of supporting drone-based espionage and surveillance over the South China Sea.[26] Euronews described the plan as providing Australian support for increased American presence in Southeast Asia, but likely to upset Chinese officials.[27] James Cogan has written for the World Socialist Web Site that airbase construction at Cocos is one component of Obama’s “pivot” towards Asia, facilitating control of the sea lanes between the Indian and Pacific Oceans and potentially allowing US forces to enforce a blockade against China.[25] After plans to construct airbases were leaked to the Washington Post, Australian defence minister Stephen Smith stated that the Australian government views “Cocos as being potentially a long-term strategic location, but that is down the track.”[28]
Using Google Maps and zooming in , you will notice that West Island has an airstrip that can accommodate passenger airliners, Since it is also a military base, it has all the capabilities of tracking an “errant” airliner passing within a few hundred kilometers west of it.
Further, should the conspiracy theory hold true, there could be the possibility of the airliner stopping over here for refueling and dumping its unwanted cargo before going to its final destination.
Kamison says
Kamison says
Related comment
#15 The missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was piloted. Were the on board pilots only the ones in control of the aircraft?
Kalahari says
Larest from CNN online
“Two vessels – one of them a Chinese warship, retrieved objects yesterday, but so far no objects confirmed to be related to MH370 have been found,
“A chinese crew said they found an L-shaped debris in orange color.”
A South Korean P-3 Orion, a US P-8 Poseidon, and other aircraft had already flown this morning headed to the search area – the 22nd day of the plane’s mysterious dissappearance.