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No radar contact was detected by Australia, including the JORN over-the-horizon radar system, which was believed to be looking north to detect illegal migrants and not west over the Indian Ocean where Flight 370 is presumed to have flown based on satellite communications.
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Australia’s hopes of helping to solve the mystery have been dashed because the nation’s most powerful radar was not looking west towards the Indian Ocean at the time when the missing plane may have passed by Australia.
The Australian understands that a preliminary investigation of all Australian intelligence, including military and civil radars, shows no record of the plane passing off Western Australia as Malaysian authorities have speculated. This does not mean the plane did not pass through the area, just that it was not detected.
Instead of looking west, the nation’s $1.8 billion Over the Horizon radar system was believed to be looking north to help detect asylum-seekers as part of Operation Sovereign Borders.