ClaimConfirmed
Gorgon Stare’s podded architecture was designed for more than MQ-9
HASC 113-102: open/podded architecture permitted integration on multiple aircraft types. Aviation Week 2010 named it as a potential MAGIC payload. An Orion installation by 8 March 2014 is not shown.
Reading Gorgon Stare as an MQ-9-only system is too narrow. Congress treated the pod as transferable. That makes an Orion or other-host fit a live engineering question, not a speculation that fights the documentation. The live question is still: was it fitted, where, and when.
Sources
- HASC Report 113-102, 7 June 2013
- Aviation Week 2010 MAGIC/Gorgon Stare note
Related
OrganisationConfirmed1 Jul 2014 00:00 UTC
Gorgon Stare
BIG SAFARI wide-area surveillance · podded, not MQ-9-only
OrganisationConfirmed24 Aug 2013 00:00 UTC
Aurora Orion RPA
Twin-diesel MALE UAS · China Lake first flight 24 Aug 2013
DocumentConfirmed7 Jun 2013
HASC Report 113-102 — Gorgon Stare to recapitalise Blue Devil
House Armed Services Committee · 7 June 2013 · USD(I)/USAF report due 14 Feb 2014
Open questionOpen
What sensors were actually on Orion by March 2014?
ClaimConfirmed
Gorgon Stare, Blue Devil and MAGIC/Orion are one overlapping ISR family under BIG SAFARI
HypothesisOpen
A BIG SAFARI collection architecture around MH370
The family is documented. A specific 8 March operation is open.