Malaysia (Next Media) - The U.S. Navy has sent its premier surveillance plane to join in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The $35-billion Boeing P-8A Poseidon, originally designed to find and sink submarine ships, was first sent to Kuala Lumpur from Okinawa, where six other Poseidons are stationed. From Malaysia, the plane took off to patrol the eastern Indian Ocean.
Typically, a creeping line search pattern is employed when the search area is large while an expanding square search pattern is used when the search target is believed to be in a small area. The P-8A is equipped with a number of armaments, including the AGM-88 Harpoon anti-ship missile, but will conduct the Malaysian flight search unarmed. Three Australian and two Japanese surveillance P-3 Orion ships joined the P-8A in the search. A Norwegian merchant ship was also sent to the area on Thursday (March 20) with more ships from the British and the Australian navies to follow over the weekend. SOURCES: International Business Times, Naval Technology http://www.ibtimes.com/boeing-p-8a-poseidon-plane-may-find-wreckage-missing-malaysia-airlines-mh370-1561973 http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/mma/ |
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