A U.S. Naval Officer Captain who is part of the search team on the Indian Ocean has warned that the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 could take years.

Captain Mark Matthews is in charge of specialised equipment designed to pick up signals from the plane's black box.

Ten ships and ten aircraft are currently engaged in a massive search for the plane, which went missing 3 weeks ago, in the southern Indian Ocean, however time is running out as the flight recorder's batteries are due to run out within days.

Reporter James Matthews is in Perth.