The New Zealand Air Force surrounds the waters where plane MH370 is suspected of crashing in the Indian Ocean.
26 countries have participated in the month-long search for MH370 since the plane disappeared in the early morning of March 8 on the way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
When the search area was moved from the East Sea to a remote area in the southern Indian Ocean, modern ships and aircraft from many countries were deployed, including China, Australia, Malaysia, the US, the UK, and the US.
Governments and military experts say it is difficult to provide a full estimate of the ongoing search campaign, especially when there are many conventional costs to maintain effective search and rescue capabilities.
The US Department of Defense allocated 4 million USD to support the search for the Malaysian national airline plane.
The Pentagon also allocated $3.6 million for the use of underwater black box signal detectors and an unmanned underwater vehicle capable of scanning for debris deep below the ocean surface.
The Australian Department of Defense said the direct cost of using the HMAS Success in the search is about $550,000 a day, while the HMAS Toowoomba is $380,000 a day.
Meanwhile, Malaysia repeatedly refused to answer questions about the cost of searching for MH370.
A number of Chinese ships and planes also participated in the search for the Boeing 777-200, but the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to disclose the amount spent.
Search forces prepare to drop a black box signal detector from the Australian ship Ocean Shield into the sea.
Geoff Davies, spokesman for the New Zealand Ministry of National Defense, said most of this country’s costs are taken from available budget resources for search and rescue operations.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense said it could not give a figure because the search was still ongoing.
Japanese troops receive free accommodation at Australian military bases under the defense cooperation agreement between the two countries.
Hannah