Resources

Did 9M-MRO have any path for external flight-control commands?

Patents prove the concept. The test is hardware/software, SATCOM/data-link, power architecture, and maintenance/modification records on this tail.

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.

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.

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.

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.

What was actually fitted on 9M-MRO — SDU, FMS, data buses, 2012 Shanghai repair?

The remote-control board’s forensic finding: need the MAS engineering record, service bulletins, SDU upgrades, avionics and data-bus software versions, and a breakdown of the 2012 Boeing wing-tip repair at Shanghai, before anyone can say a control path physically existed on this tail.

What was actually taken on 9 March — and did it include radar?

CSM said minutes of crisis meetings and classified documents, some related to MH370. The working chart asks whether radar information or discussions of the turn-back were in that set. No public loot list answers it. A negative would also be a finding.

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.

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.

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.

Where is the main wreckage?

Not in the 120,000 km² ATSB box, not in the 2018 Ocean Infinity corridor, not in the 7,571 km² surveyed in 2025–26. Remaining 7,428 km² under contract to June 2027.

Where was the Blue Devil I government-owned sensor package in January–March 2014?

Aircraft gone; sensors remaining as government property, being assessed for reassignment. Destination on 8 March is open — including Orion, MQ-9, MC-12, or another host. Not shown, and not ruled out.

Which of the ten theatre dossiers can actually be pulled?

The forensic board’s bottom row: 4 March Boeing statement of work; P-8/P-3 7–8 March sortie logs; Global Hawk records; Pinckney/Kidd pre-search tracks; JORN operating/tasking logs; SBIRS retrospective; Five Eyes MH370 correspondence; Boeing performance datasets; 9M-MRO avionics/mod configuration; early US intel reporting.

Who was flying after IGARI?

Official report: cannot establish if anyone other than the two pilots was at the controls. Manual inputs likely; actor unknown.

USAF PB2020 — MAGIC/Orion continued after 2014

PE 0305205F · Congressional adds FY2015–FY2018

MAGIC/Orion did not fade from the budget after 2014. Adds: $20m FY2015, $5m FY2016, $50m FY2017, $40m FY2018, on top of $19m FY2012 and $50m FY2013. Post-2016 money was for airworthiness, cybersecurity, interoperability and mission capability toward a deployable Block 1 Orion.