Kadena P-3C tasked to the MH370 search
Announced 8 March 2014 · on station 9 March
Confirmed search tasking. Seventh Fleet said a P-3C would leave Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, shortly on 8 March. Naval Today: the P-3 arrived on station the afternoon of 9 March. VP-16 P-8A Poseidon had been in theatre from December 2013 — basing, not a 7–9 March sortie card.
A P-3C Orion from Kadena is a long-range maritime patrol aircraft with radar and communications useful to a surface search. The 8 March announcement is a search-support fact. Exact 7–9 March P-3C and P-8A sortie lists from Kadena are still needed before anyone treats those aircraft as collectors in the MH370 window. Six P-8A and twelve combat aircrews forward-deployed at Kadena is a separately reported posture; it is not a finding that any of them painted 9M-MRO.
Sources
- US 7th Fleet, 8 Mar 2014
- Naval Today, 10 Mar 2014
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