Airborne early warning and control aircraft to assist in MH370 search

The E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft will be deployed by Royal Australian Air Force in the search for the missing Malaysian MH370 jet, a defence official said here Tuesday. [Special coverage]

"They are very capable aircraft which can assist us in de- conflicting air space in the search area, that will be in addition to the force out there," former Defence chief Angus Houston, who led the Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC), told the media on Tuesday.

The E-7A Wedgetails can control the tactical battle space, providing direction for fighter aircraft, surface combatants and land based elements, as well as supporting aircraft such as tankers and intelligence platforms.

Ten aircraft and nine ships will be assisting in Tuesday's search in an area about 120,000 square kilometers west of Perth with a civil jet providing a communications relay, said Houston.

The Ocean Shield, an Australian war ship equipped with a black box detector and an unmanned underwater drone, left Perth on Monday evening to try to locate MH370's black boxes and the wreckage.

The Perth-based Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC) was established Monday to work at international, national and state level in relation to the search and recovery operation.

It will also provide timely information to families of people on board the missing plane.

Australia will shoulder the cost of running the 20-staff coordination center as it's an act of international citizenship on Australia's part, the country's Prime Minister Tony Abbot said Monday during a tour to RAAF Pearce Air Base.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will arrive in Perth, West Australia on Wednesday and visit the Pearce Air Base on Thursday.