Data request: Malaysia believes the radar domes of the top-secret joint US-Australian base at Pine Gap near Alice Springs may have captured crucial information about Flight MH370. Photo: STF/AFP/Getty Images
Malaysia says data from US spy satellites monitored in Australia could help find missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 but the information is being withheld.
Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has asked the US to share information obtained from the Pine Gap base near Alice Springs, reports the government-controlled New Straits Times newspaper.
Authorities in Kuala Lumpur say finding the plane depends on the willingness of several countries to share potentially sensitive radar and satellite data.
Restricted access: the Jorn project transmitter site in Laverton, Western Australia. Photo: Supplied
They want to use the information to calibrate with data they have already obtained to narrow the search areas from a massive 2.4 million square nautical miles stretching from Central Asia to the vast expanses of the Indian Ocean.
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Thailand's military said on Tuesday that its radar detected a plane that may have been MH370 just minutes after the plane's communications went down, and that it didn't share the information with Malaysia earlier because it wasn't asked for it.
For three days, Mr Hishammuddin, who is also Defence Minister, has reiterated that Malaysia had asked countries to provide sensitive data from their satellites, specifically naming the US, France and China.
"Our focus is on four tasks: gathering information from satellite surveillance, analysis of surveillance radar data, increasing air and surface assets and increasing the number of technical and subject matter experts," Mr Hishammuddin said on Tuesday night.
"On satellite surveillance, I cannot disclose who has what capability but I can confirm we have contacted every relevant country that has access to satellite data," he said.
Mr Hishammuddin says information obtained from military-use satellites is regarded as privileged on national security grounds and usually not shared among nations.
But he said Malaysia had "put our search effort above our national security" by disclosing raw military data which had allowed experts to identify areas where the plane could have flown after it lost communications and turned back from its scheduled flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.
Asked if countries had been forthcoming with information, Mr Hishammuddin replied: "The only one [country] that is basically out in the open is Malaysia."
After speaking by telephone with US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday, Mr Hishammuddin said the US had "possibly the best ability" to help find the plane. US ships and planes are involved in a 25-country search.
Mr Hishammuddin said he also asked Mr Hagel about US support from satellite and radar systems. Mr Hagel has not commented directly on Malaysia's request for access to US satellite data.
The New Straits Times on Wednesday led its coverage of the missing plane with a story referring to Pine Gap as a "super-secret" installation in the barren Australian heartland that could solve the puzzle of the mystery disappearance.
