US military presence in theatre, 7–9 March 2014

The board separates three colours: publicly documented in theatre (Pinckney, Kadena P-3C search tasking, later Strait of Malacca / Gulf of Thailand search), presence/basing known but 7–9 March sorties not pinned (Andersen RQ-4, Diego Garcia), and records still needed (USS Kidd pre-search track, EP-3E Aries II, RC-135 Rivet Joint, extra P-3C/P-8A, tankers). Seventh Fleet’s 8 March 2014 release is the primary for Pinckney: the destroyer was already conducting training and maritime security in international waters of the South China Sea, then diverted toward Vietnam’s southern coast, with two MH-60R helicopters embarked. A P-3C was to leave Kadena shortly. That is confirmed search response. It is not a finding that those units collected MH370 before the diversion, and it does not claim continuous tracking. Sortie cards, combat-system logs and pre-search tracks are the next records.