The search for the missing MH370 is set to enter into a new with the widening of underwater hunt for the aircraft’s debris, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced.

Since the search efforts began, the Australia-led teams have scoured over 4.5 million square kilometres of ocean floor, with no results.

Speaking to reporters in Canberra, Abbott said that a much larger area of the ocean surface will be now be targeted, although it was ‘highly unlikely’ to find any surface wreckage.

"Abbott said that a much larger area of the ocean surface will be now be targeted, although it was ‘highly unlikely’ to find any surface wreckage."

Officials are looking to bring in new equipment that can search a larger section of seabed for the aircraft, Abbott added.

Aerial searches for the missing jet, which went on for six weeks, are officially ending today.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has announced that an unidentified jet was detected by the military radar on the day when MH370 mysteriously disappeared off radar screens.

The announcement, which is inconsistent with earlier claims by Malaysia that its civilian radar did not detect any aircraft on 8 March, is increasing suspicions over whether authorities are hiding facts from the public.

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared only an hour after it took-off from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.

More than a dozen countries have been searching the southern Indian Ocean for traces of the aircraft.

Defence Technology