From Wednesday the Wedgetail will take on the role of an airborne command post in the search area, replacing civilian aircraft that have been performing this role to date, head of the newly-established Joint Agency Coordination Centre Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Angus Houston told media on Tuesday.
The Wedgetail will be responsible for deconflicting aircraft operating in the search zone looking for evidence of the presumed crashed Malaysia Airlines 777. The current search zone covers an area of 120,000 square kilometres approximately 1,960km west of Perth.