Resources

Gorgon Stare

BIG SAFARI wide-area surveillance · podded, not MQ-9-only

Developed through BIG SAFARI. Increment 2 is ARGUS-derived EO plus Exelis IR. Congress treated the podded/open architecture as integrable on more than one aircraft type. MQ-9 is the documented host; an Orion fit by 8 March 2014 is open. 2013 OSD figure: 2 fps, not 6.

Gorgon Stare documented at 2 fps, not 6 fps

OSD September 2013 comparison figure

Primary pre-MH370 report labels Gorgon Stare 2 fps versus 30 fps FMV. A claimed ~6 fps match to Increment 2 is not established, pending an Increment-2 specification.

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.

Thinking About the U.S. Military’s Next-Generation UAS Force

OSD Office of Net Assessment · September 2013 · 112 pp. · HQ0034-09-D-3007-0013

Pre-MH370 OSD-commissioned report. Gorgon Stare / ARGUS-IS / ARGUS-IR: multi-lens arrays, lower frame rate and resolution than HD FMV, areas up to ~40 km². Comparison figure labels conventional FMV 30 fps and Gorgon Stare 2 fps.

Michael Selig testimony — Diego Garcia, Gorgon Stare, cold plasma

Nic Moneypenny notes a written and recorded account by Michael Selig, former fast-jet pilot who flew into Diego Garcia, describing an MH370 end-state, a leaked video, Gorgon Stare and scalar / plasma language.

Alleged-video 6 fps ‘Gorgon Stare match’ is contradicted by the 2013 OSD report

The 6 fps ‘Gorgon Stare match’ claimed for alleged video is not established. 2 fps is the documented comparison figure. Increment 2’s rate is unpublished here.

Was Gorgon Stare Increment 2 operational on 8 March 2014?

Sierra Nevada (1 Jul 2014): deployed to Afghanistan ‘earlier this year’ and at IOC. Air & Space Forces (7 Apr 2014): Col Brandon Baker — second iteration ‘has been tried operationally’ and would undergo a six-month evaluation. Mercury SEC: 18-month QRC delivery from a 2011 win. None of these pin 7–8 March.

USAF: Gorgon Stare Increment 2 ‘tried operationally’

Air & Space Forces · 7 April 2014 · Col Brandon Baker

A named USAF official puts Increment 2 operational-trial activity by early April 2014. It does not establish airborne availability on 7–8 March.

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

Primary Congressional source: Gorgon Stare is the USAF’s only operational persistent day/night WAMI capability and the logical programme to recapitalise Blue Devil technologies, capabilities and lessons learned. Directed evolution into WAMI + near-vertical direction-finding SIGINT, leveraging Blue Devil PED. Report due 14 February 2014 — 22 days before MH370.

Gorgon Stare, Blue Devil and MAGIC/Orion are one overlapping ISR family under BIG SAFARI

Confirmed by Congressional and USAF budget records. Same office, overlapping sensors (WAMI, SIGINT, airborne processing), shared GFE path through Greenville, and a podded architecture meant to move between airframes. Not isolated programmes that happen to share a decade.

Where is the 14 February 2014 USD(I)/USAF Gorgon Stare / Blue Devil strategy report?

HASC 113-102 required it 22 days before MH370. It may name platforms, residual Blue Devil components, integration status and fielding chronology.

DARPA WAND

Wide Area Network Detection · coincident WAMI + RF

Live-fly WAMI and RF geolocation fusion in 2012, SOCOM transition, Trident Spectre demonstration. Named in FY2013 NDAA Sec. 927. Part of the overlapping multi-INT ecosystem around Blue Devil and Gorgon Stare. Not shown as an MH370 collector.

FY2013 NDAA Sec. 927 — integrated SIGINT / WAMI plan

Congressional Record 12 Dec 2012 · ISR Task Force plan due 1 Jan 2013

Statute required a plan for operationally integrated SIGINT able to detect, track and precisely geolocate high-band devices and immediately cue imagery. Named Army Guardrail / ARGUS A160, USAF Blue Moon QRC and DARPA WAND. Consult NSA and USSOCOM.

A BIG SAFARI collection architecture around MH370

The family is documented. A specific 8 March operation is open.

Gorgon Stare, Blue Devil and MAGIC/Orion are one overlapping ISR family under 645 AESG / BIG SAFARI: same office, overlapping WAMI/SIGINT sensors, reusable GFE through Greenville, and a podded architecture meant to move between airframes. That family is confirmed. Whether any of it collected MH370 is not established and is not ruled out.

Angel Fire

Wide-area airborne surveillance · lineage into Blue Devil Block 1

USAF/SOCOM WAAS system. Congressional documentation describes Blue Devil Block 1 as integrating Angel Fire-derived wide-area imagery with signals intelligence on manned aircraft. Confirmed as the WAAS ancestor in this family, not as an MH370 collector.

What sensors were actually on Orion by March 2014?

Orion was selected as MAGIC’s multi-day, multi-sensor ISR aircraft. First flight had no mission system; flight 18 (Dec 2014) carried ballast. Those two points do not empty the aircraft. Sorties 2–17, including March 2014, are the hole. Gorgon Stare / MTS-B / VADER remain live leads, not closed fits.

645 AESG / BIG SAFARI

USAF rapid acquisition — the office that binds this family

645 AESG / BIG SAFARI ran specialised rapid-development ISR. It executed MAGIC, developed Gorgon Stare, and took Blue Devil equipment into a facility it managed at Greenville, Texas. That is the documented organisational centre of this technology family, not a coincidence of names.

MAGIC

Medium Altitude Global ISR and Communications

USAF endurance-ISR programme. Air vehicle: Aurora Orion. Office: 645 AESG / BIG SAFARI — the same rapid-acquisition group that ran Gorgon Stare and took Blue Devil residuals. Confirmed as a multi-day ISR platform in that family. A specific MH370 operation is not established and is not ruled out.

MH370 Daily Research — working papers

18 September 2026

Working ISR report, source ledger and master chronology gathered the same day, with a cited-URL set pointing at contemporary MAGIC, Orion and Gorgon Stare reporting.

Ashton Forbes

Independent researcher · alleged thermal and wide-area video

Source of widely circulated alleged thermal/WAMI videos and platform identifications. Those identifications are hypotheses, not findings. Plasma-orb claims are treated as unsubstantiated. A third-party extract of 824 of his videos is a claim list, not proof. Edward C. Lin FOIA does not name MH370.

A specific MH370 collection event is not yet on the record — and is not ruled out

MAGIC/Orion, Gorgon Stare and Blue Devil form a documented overlapping family under BIG SAFARI. That family is not, by itself, a platform, sensor or sortie on 8 March 2014. The same material does not rule such a deployment out.

Alleged thermal / wide-area video is authentic collection

Hypothesis to test — provenance not established

Circulating clips are treated as alleged. If genuine, at least one collector must satisfy geometry, band, FOV, altitude and comms. Platform IDs attached to social posts are not accepted as authority. A ~6 fps ‘Gorgon Stare Increment 2 match’ is contradicted by the 2013 OSD 2 fps figure.

MH370 / US Military ISR Working Research Report v1

Working paper · 18 September 2026

Working paper on US military ISR programmes in the MH370 window: MAGIC, Orion, Gorgon Stare, Blue Devil and remote-control patents, read as one overlapping family under BIG SAFARI. The family is documented. A specific MH370 collection is not established and is not ruled out.

What is the bridge from the ISR family to MH370?

Gorgon Stare, Blue Devil and MAGIC/Orion are a documented family under BIG SAFARI. The open question is one specific platform, sensor, command link, contract, deployment or test event in both that family and the MH370 window. Until that object is found, involvement is not established — and is not ruled out.

Blue Devil I / II

Operational Block 1 WAAS + SIGINT · Block 2 residuals to BIG SAFARI

Block 1 was operational: manned aircraft carrying Angel Fire-derived wide-area imagery integrated with SIGINT. Block 2, the airship, was terminated — but its equipment, including GFE, was packed and sent to a BIG SAFARI facility in Greenville, Texas, available for other programmes. The technology did not vanish with the airship.

Where did Blue Devil residual components go?

Block 2 equipment, including government-furnished components, was packed and transferred to a BIG SAFARI-managed facility in Greenville, Texas, available for other projects. Residual parts were absorbed into other Air Force programmes. Later inventory — including March 2014 — is not published.

Aurora Orion contract FA8620-12-C-3027

~$86.56m aggregated · completion extending to 2019

Public award aggregation for the BIG SAFARI / Orion definitive contract. Transaction-level FPDS history — especially modifications August 2013–March 2014 — is still open. Budget authority, ceilings and obligations are not the same as cash spent.

Aurora Orion RPA

Twin-diesel MALE UAS · China Lake first flight 24 Aug 2013

Selected air vehicle for MAGIC: a multi-day, medium-altitude remotely piloted ISR platform designed to carry multiple sensors. First flight (24 Aug 2013) had no mission system; the December 2014 endurance record carried ballast. Those two flights do not decide what was fitted on sorties 2–17, including March 2014.

Blue Devil II stopped; hardware to Greenville

Payload stop 4 Jan 2012 · pack-out May 2012 · storage Q4 FY2012

Airship programme killed. Equipment packed and transferred to a BIG SAFARI-managed facility in Greenville, Texas. Components were available for other projects. Residual parts were later absorbed into other Air Force programmes.

Greenville, Texas

BIG SAFARI facility · Blue Devil II GFE available for other programmes

Q4 FY2012 destination of stopped Blue Devil II airship equipment, including government-furnished components. FY2014 USAF budget language: components available for other projects. Later inventory, including March 2014, is not published.

MH370 Research Master Log

Investigation chronology · 18–20 September 2026

Running chronology of findings: cargo, 2011–2013 ISR programmes, radar disclosure on the westbound track, MAGIC budget exhibits, and the alleged-video file.

RegicideAnon satellite-video upload — 19 May 2014

Public upload date archivable; claimed 12 March receipt is not verified by that fact

Confirmed public-upload date. Description’s claimed ‘received 12 March 2014’ remains a separate, unverified field. Provenance of the file itself is still the core video question.

What platform received the FY2013 dual-band RF Persistent Sensing integration?

PB2015: completed and integrated onto an ‘identified platform,’ then the effort ended. Public exhibits do not name it. FIRST RF / Shadow 200 and ISIS test-facility work are documented UHF/X-band alternatives. Orion is chronology-only.

4ORBS — Ashton Forbes video knowledge base

Third-party extract of 824 videos · a claim list, not proof

Structured archive extracted from 824 Ashton Forbes videos. Distinguishes extracted claims from proof. Every material proposition still has to be traced to the original document or video.

Blue Devil I operational demonstration ends

31 December 2013 · four King Airs returning to Leidos

Attributed via Inside the Air Force, 22 Jan 2014, quoting USAF officials. The four leased King Airs were returning to Leidos, so the original Afghanistan fleet was not an operational candidate on 8 March 2014. The multi-INT sensor package remained US Government property and was being assessed for reassignment (MC-12 and MQ-9 mentioned, not selected). The sensors did not disappear with the lease.

FIRST RF Phase II — dual-band UHF/X-band airborne SAR

FA8650-11-C-1016 · $749,593 · start 26 Jan 2011 · topic AF093-138

Official SBIR: lightweight dual-band UHF/X-band SAR on a modified Artemis COTS radar plus FIRST RF single-aperture antenna. SWaP ~20 lb / 150 W. Design target included Shadow 200. A concrete alternative to treating Orion as the unnamed FY2013 RF Persistent Sensing platform.

What was on Orion flights 2–17 between August 2013 and March 2014?

First flight: no mission system. Flight 18 (Dec 2014): ballast. The MH370-relevant interval is the unlisted sorties in between, plus whether the ‘second flight series’ PB2015 said was being scheduled had begun by 8 March.

What were the two MAGIC JUON numbers and the FY2012/13 add sponsors?

USAF says two Joint Urgent Operational Needs for long dwell / persistent ISR. Exact numbers, submitting commands, and the $19m / $50m Congressional language are unresolved.