Resources

Raytheon MTS-B as Orion payload lead

Reported option · 2012–13 USAF UAV MTS bookings in the $200m class

MTS-B is EO/IR FMV/targeting. Aviation Week 2010 attributed a planned pair of MTS-B turrets on Orion — planned, not fitted on the maiden article. Flight 18 (Dec 2014) carried 1,000 lb ballast. Raytheon 10-K totals do not identify Orion as the customer.

Raytheon MTS award for HC/MC-130J — one day before MH370

$10.072556m · 10 systems · 7 March 2014

Chronology fact only. No evidence these turrets or aircraft observed MH370. HD-capable MTS-B was entering USAF inventory through 2013–14.

Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems

ISIS radar · MTS for USAF UAVs · large classified SAS bookings

Radar on ISIS; MTS-B is an Orion payload lead. 2013 SAS booked $210m MTS for USAF UAVs and $862m classified. Those totals do not establish an MH370/MAGIC contract.

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.

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.

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 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.