Yup Now It Is A Real Submarine, But...

Yes ladies and gentlemen, a full fledged submarine has finally joined the Task Force for SAR MH370 as reported below. Nonetheless before you start asking why our own submarines are not joining, do take note that The Trafalgar Class HMS Tireless is a nuclear attack submarine that is far more capable than our own diesel submarine as you can read here. So unless you allow Malaysia to follow Brunei footsteps and increase our defence budget to record of more than 10% of our national budget, please hold your tongue as this incident has clearly shown our defence capabilities shortfalls due to petty sniping of our defence spending prior to this. Anyway Malaysia even if we can afford it will never be allowed to join the nuclear submarine navy club so let's be clear about that shall we. But who knows, maybe our own Perdana class SSK diesel submarines are actually steaming towards the SAR area as it is their nature to announce their journey before arriving at their destination, exactly as HMS Tireless has done when her arrival was only announced upon arrival around a week after being ordered to move from an operational tasking to the search area. See how much details are left out even the this article gives much more information than article posted here.

Published: Wednesday April 2, 2014 MYT 8:30:00 AM
Updated: Wednesday April 2, 2014 MYT 8:32:19 AM 

MH370 search: Sub joins hunt ahead of Najib’s visit to Perth 

PERTH: The protracted search for missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 was boosted Wednesday by the arrival of a British submarine in the Indian Ocean ahead of a visit to Australia by Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The personal jet of Oscar-winning New Zealand movie director Peter Jackson is also now reportedly being used in the multinational hunt for the plane that vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board.

Despite extensive scouring of remote Indian Ocean waters by planes and ships southwest of Perth where Malaysia believes the plane went down, nothing has been found so far that would indicate a crash site.

“No significant developments to report,” the Australian Maritime Safety Authority tweeted after 10 planes returned from flying sorties on Tuesday evening in a now familiar update on drawing a blank.

But in a boost to the search effort, Britain’s Royal Navy said submarine HMS Tireless has arrived in the area and “with her advanced underwater search capability will be able to contribute to the attempts to locate the missing plane”.

While planes, ships and helicopters have all been deployed, it is the first submarine to be drafted in.

Britain’s HMS Echo is also due in the search zone shortly to assist Australia's Ocean Shield naval vessel, which is fitted with a US-supplied black box detector and is expected to arrive on Friday.

The battery-powered signal from the black box – which records flight data and cockpit voice communications that could indicate what happened to the plane – usually lasts only about 30 days, with time fast running out to find it.

Australia has warned against expectations of quick success in the difficult task of recovering the black box from the deep and vast seas.

Retired Australian air chief marshal Angus Houston, who is heading a new coordination centre in Perth, reiterated Wednesday that the odds were stacked against them.

“The reality is it’s the most complex and challenging search and recovery operation I’ve ever seen,” he told national radio.

“If we don’t find anything on the surface, we’ll have to think about what we do next.” 

Prime Minister Najib is due in Perth on Wednesday evening to tour the air base being used as a staging post and meet with his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott, as well as Houston. – AFP