Resources

OSD PB2012 — MAGIC JCTD primary record

PE 0603648D8Z · pp. 32–33 · USCENTCOM sponsor

Primary OSD budget exhibit: MAGIC is a USCENTCOM-sponsored JCTD. 120-hour sortie, nominal 1,000 lb / maximum 2,600 lb at 15,000 ft. Modular payload classes: EO/IR, SIGINT, GMTI, wide-area surveillance, communications relay, strike. Transition named to USAF 303rd AESW.

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.

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 Increment 2’s rate is unpublished here.

MAGIC was designed for multi-INT payload modularity, not only endurance

OSD PB2012 lists EO/IR, SIGINT, GMTI, wide-area surveillance, communications relay and strike as modular payload classes, plus reduced-manning / open-architecture avionics. That is the documented architecture. It is not an installed-GFE list for March 2014.

USAF 303rd AESW

Named MAGIC transition organisation in OSD PB2012

OSD planned to provide MAGIC core technologies to the 303rd Aeronautical Systems Wing for further development of a deployable long-endurance UAS. Confirmed as a named office; later 645 AESG / BIG SAFARI execution is a separate fact.

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.

MAGIC JCTD initiated

FY2010 Q3 · OSD/DDR&E

Competition among five defence-industry partners. $5m initial to AFRL. CENTCOM persistent-ISR sponsorship in Aurora’s 2010 release.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.