[ventus45]

Armada 86 05 has returned to empty handed to Freemantle this morning at Dawn (Wednesday 28th January 2026.
The Freemantle Port Authority Website indicates that it will depart on Friday at Dusk for Pago Pago (though that is not set in stone).

The question is, will she return to the search area at 34S to 36S, or not ?

I think not, for the following reasons.

If you look at it from an “actual time on task / total mission time” ratio point of view, it is pretty clear that both the A78 and A86 are not really as suitable for SIO weather conditions that OI might have hoped.

The record so far (for the Armada's) does not look encouraging.
A7806 = 23rd February 2025 to 28th February 2025 was only 5 days on task.
A7806 = 11th March 2025 to 28th March 2025 was only 17 days on task.
A8605 = 30th December 2025 to 23rd January 2026 was only 24 days on task (but 2+ days hooved to).

Therefore, the Armadas have only achieved a total of 46 (44 ?) search days on task in 11 months, or 41 (39 ?) search days on task since the contract was signed, or only 24 (22 ?) days on task since the announcement of the 55 days of intermittent searching.

I think that OI have reluctantly decided to face reality, because they must now realize that neither A78’s or A86’s are suitable for SIO weather conditions, so I think it is highly unlikely that A8605 will return to the 34S-36S box, and instead will be send to Pago Pago.

If we assume that 33 of the 55 search days on task remain, then presumably they have to be used between now and October (18 month limit on the contract), which is enough time for OI to bring in Island Pride (similar to Seabed Constructor), or even lease another similar vessel.

[ventus45]

Armada 86 05 has returned empty handed to Freemantle this morning at Dawn (Wednesday 28th January 2026.
The Freemantle Port Authority Website indicates that it will depart on Friday at Dusk for Pago Pago (though that is not set in stone).

The question is, will she return to the search area at 34S to 36S, or not ?

I think not, for the following reasons.

If you look at it from an “actual time on task / total mission time” ratio point of view, it is pretty clear that both the A78 and A86 are not really as suitable for SIO weather conditions that OI might have hoped.

The record so far (for the Armada's) does not look encouraging.
A7806 = 23rd February 2025 to 28th February 2025 was only 5 days on task.
A7806 = 11th March 2025 to 28th March 2025 was only 17 days on task.
A8605 = 30th December 2025 to 23rd January 2026 was only 24 days on task (but 2+ days hooved to).

Therefore, the Armadas have only achieved a total of 46 (44 ?) search days on task in 11 months, or 41 (39 ?) search days on task since the contract was signed, or only 24 (22 ?) days on task since the announcement of the 55 days of intermittent searching.

I think that OI have reluctantly decided to face reality, because they must now realize that neither A78’s or A86’s are suitable for SIO weather conditions, so I think it is highly unlikely that A8605 will return to the 34S-36S box, and instead will be send to Pago Pago.

If we assume that 33 of the 55 search days on task remain, then presumably they have to be used between now and October (18 month limit on the contract), which is enough time for OI to bring in Island Pride (similar to Seabed Constructor), or even lease another similar vessel.

[ventus45]

Armada 86 05 returned to Freemantle yesterday morning at Dawn (Wednesday 28th January 2026). At that time, the Freemantle Port Authority Website indicated that it would depart on Friday at Dusk for Pago Pago (though that is not set in stone).
Well, the stone tablet has since been hit a few times with a sledge hammer.
The Freemantle Port Authority Website is currently (at dawn Thursday 29th January 2026) showing her berthed at AMC4east Henderson, but expecting to move to "Outside Port Limits" at dawn on Friday 30th January 2026.
Now, precisely what "Outside Port Limits" means is unclear. At this stage, I am assuming that it means that it will depart AMC4east Henderson, but remain within Cockburn Sound until dawn on Monday 2nd February 2026, thence move to ‘Gage Roads’ and wait there for three hours, before "proceeding to sea" at 10am local time (which will be 02:00 UTC) apparently for passage to Pago Pago.
So, what does it all mean ? Yesterday, I posited the question: "The question is, will she return to the search area at 34S to 36S, or not ?" My answer "I think not, for the following reasons". was posted at
https://mh370.radiantphysics.com/2026/01...ment-39906 and at https://auntypru.com/forum/showthread.ph...7#pid14947.
24 hours on, and I think it is no pretty clear that the search is over (for now at least).
Clearly, OI have to re-think their choice of ship for the SIO, if they intend to continue 'the quest' (as it were) at all.

[ventus45]

Armada 8605 is sailing for Pago Pago.
Oi's search for MH370 is over for now.
Oi's contract with the Malaysian Government expires in October 2026.
It is very unlikely that any other OI ship will continue the search before that date.
It is highly unlikely that Malaysia will grant an extension to the contract or enter into a new one with OI or any other company.
No company will take the financial or legal risks of searching without a contract *especially for legal cover).
Therefore, the search for MH370 is effectively done and dusted.
Perhaps our great grandchildren will finally learn the truth when it is finally declassified after 100 years (i.e. in 2114).

[ventus45]

https://x.com/Ventus_45/status/2019516390517141551

Armada 8605 is now south of Albany West Australia heading east into the Great Australian Bight on her way to Pago Pago. Although some hope that A8604 or A8606 will deploy to the SIO, I think not. In my view, the search for MH370 in 2026 is over. I doubt it will ever be found now.

[ventus45]

https://mh370.radiantphysics.com/2026/01...ment-40114

ventus45 says:
February 24, 2026 at 7:02 pm
@Victor:

Given the transit times involved, if neither A8604 deploys from Port Louis, nor A8606 deploys from Singapore, by the end of February 2026, it’s over, period, because, realistically, there are only 9 (possibly 10) weeks left in this ‘search season’ which is barely enough time to transit to the search area and complete the remainder of the stated 55 active search days.

Further, don’t forget that the 18-month contract ends in a few months’ time (September 2026 ?), which is well before the next ‘practical search season’ could open in late November 2026.

I agree with JMG that the ‘deafening silence’ from both OI and the Malaysian Government is telling.

The ‘elephant in the room’, the real question that should be asked is:
‘Why have both OI and MGov steadfastly refused to say anything ?’

Even if both OI and MGov have nothing but distain for ‘the wider MH370 community’, it is, if nothing else, clearly ‘cruel and inhumane treatment of the NOK’, especially in light of the MGov’s glowingly ‘self-touting’ of it’s bona-fides towards the NOK in the MGov media release of late December 2025. The word ‘hypocrites’ now seems rather apt.

Therefore, sadly, I think that your apparent ‘optimism’, is little more than unhelpful ‘wishful thinking’ at this stage of proceedings.

[ventus45]

https://mh370.radiantphysics.com/2026/01...ment-40129

@All

Armada 8604 has sailed from Port Louis - destination - Las Palmas, SPAIN - eta 30Mar2026.
Armada 8606 has sailed from Singapore - destination - offshore Vung Tau VIETNAM - eta 28Feb2026.

[Peetwo]

https://mh370.radiantphysics.com/2026/01...ment-40129

ventus45 says:
February 26, 2026 at 1:23 am
@Andrew

Andrew, I have not ignored your “take” of (February 24, 2026 at 8:19 pm) but it has taken a little time to compile a response.

Firstly, I don’t think anyone would disagree that there is no doubt that MGov have frustrated all attempts to find MH370 from day one. The fact that ‘MH370 remains a very sensitive subject in Malaysia’ is mainly because of the secrecy and duplicity (not just the apparent incompetence or the ‘changing narratives’) that has also prevailed, from day one.

The best example of this came very early in this saga, when Hishammuddin Hussein’s interview in an Australian Broadcasting Commission 4 Corners program about a month after the event said it all.

Watch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nukuLJ39i0U) from 32 min 40 sec to 35 min 23 sec. Then watch from 40 min 05 sec to 40 min 41 sec, where Hishammuddin Hussein puts a very ‘clever’ spin on the Inmarsat data, (to deny that the aircraft had flown for many hours) by dismissing it, by ascribing it ONLY to ‘engine data’ (which we now know obviously had not been received because ACARS was down).

By that stage, ‘blind Freddy’ could have deduced that the MGov obviously knew ‘who’ took MH370, ‘why’ MH370 was taken, and quite ‘possibly’ (roughly) where it might be.

I can’t see any logical reason why you should be (apparently) apologetic for MGov’s actions, either past or present.

Then we move to the SIO air search, which was not MGov’s idea at all, it was literally forced on Malaysia by Obama, and he told AusGov to have AMSA run the search. The initial air search was concentrated in the south (37S – 40S), supported by the NTSB ‘two tracks’ (which have mysteriously ‘vanished’ from the public record – funny about that) and other sat data.

Indeed, Chinese sat data indicated even further South West, but MGov did everything that they could to ‘force the search north’, and eventually won.
Why ?

The Chinese IL-76’s weren’t allowed to go out again, they were sent home, the air search was cancelled, the ATSB dumped AMSA, and thus began the saga of the 7th arc towed sonar’s.

The ATSB controlled FUGRO search covered a long narrow strip close to the arc. When PM Najib Razak and Hishammuddin Hussein came out here at separate times during Fugro’s search, it was clear from their body language, that they actually feared that MH370 might be found.

But, alas, Fugro did not find it, and the ATSB search was eventually terminated, and MH370 became a ‘cold case’, much to MGov’s relief, and China’s all too obvious studied inscrutable indifference.

Then, in 2018, OI sprung up out of nowhere, apparently funded by cashed up investment bankers, whom it was rumored, had a penchant for prior ‘clandestine missions’ exploiting (or attempting to exploit) historical shipwrecks with the potential for ‘lucrative payoffs’. Rumors suggested that some of these ‘missions’ had run fowl of various ‘authorities’.

It could be argued that OI was created as a means for them to ‘emerge from the shadows’ by bursting onto the world stage in such ‘a noble quest’ that no one would look deeper. Hiding in plain sight is perfect cover, and although the company was financially HQ’d in London’s ‘City’, it’s operations from 2018 until at least 2020, were apparently run out of Texas.

Anyway, OI made a proposal to MGov, but MGov stonewalled for months. In the meantime, OI prepared Seabed Constructor. When it became clear that MGov would not ‘come to the party’, OI sailed Seabed Constructor to Durban, effectively giving MGov ‘one last chance’ to accept their ‘no find no fee’ offer.

MGov was unmoved, so Seabed Constructor deployed from Durban for ‘the arc’.

By the time Seabed Constructor was about half way across the SIO, MGov knew that they could not ‘stone wall’ any longer, they caved, they signed, and two Royal Malaysian Navy Hydrographers were frantically flown to Perth, put on an ocean going tug, and eventually rendezvoused with Seabed Constructor at the arc, and boarded Seabed Constructor as Malaysia’s ‘official contract observers’.

So, the search for MH370 became OI’s backers / funders first ‘open mission’.
But while Seabed Constructor was searching, back in KL, MGov militarized it’s AIB, and when Seabed Constructor made a port call, they attempted to replace the two Navy Hydrographers with half a dozen Air Force Officers. That didn’t go well.

In the years since, OI has grown by leaps and bounds, with ‘heavy’ capital investment. If you look at their incredible growth rate, I doubt that the revenue generated by their operations to date has come anywhere near paying even a respectable interest return on those investments, let alone made any progress on paying back any of the seed capital. In other words, whoever is funding OI has very deep (bottomless ?) pockets, and is obviously playing a very long game.

Therefore, I very much doubt that your take’s central tenant that OI ‘needs to prioritize opportunities to generate revenue’ holds much water, and is highly unlikely to be ‘a valid escape clause’ for terminating the latest search (nor 7805’s aborted search last year for that matter).

Furthermore, quite clearly, a potential $70m ‘payoff’ for finding MH370 will not come anywhere near covering OI’s MH370 ‘sunk’ expenses from 2018 until now. So why are they persisting with this quest ?

In purely business terms, the only strategy that makes any kind of sense to me is that the company must consider ‘their MH370 project’ as a straight out ‘loss leader’, but the question becomes – for what ?

Perhaps (as you suggest) they are ‘currying favor’ with MGov as a legal contractual lever to guarantee them the ‘exclusive salvage contract’ when and if 9M-MRO is found (by anyone ? – it’s possible an oceanographic research ship might just ‘stumble’ upon it), but even that seems a bit farfetched.

In any case, there is no doubt that MGov do not want MH370 found, not ever, which effectively means, that if OI is only allowed to search where MGov is willing to let them search, then the MGov must be very confident that MH370 is definitely not there, which means that OI are on a hiding to nothing, they will never find it themselves under an MGov contract.

So that only leaves OI having ‘an in place first right to salvage agreement’ of some kind (if someone else finds it).

@All

Armada 8604 has sailed from Port Louis - destination - Las Palmas, SPAIN - eta 30Mar2026.
Armada 8606 has sailed from Singapore - destination - offshore Vung Tau VIETNAM - eta 28Feb2026.

V45 on the money yet again mate, was and always will be a Malaysian Government cover-up -FFS! P2