Australia, China and the United States are bearing the brunt of the skyrocketing cost of searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean, and not one of them is complaining.

Already, a month's cost of the search has reached at least $44 million as estimated by Reuters with the expenses becoming higher as the search continues to unfold on a daily basis. Military analysts estimate that the cost could run into millions more for as long as the plane is not found.

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Military assets such as planes, ships, radars, satellites and hi-tech underwater equipment like the US Towed Pinger Locator and Bluefin 21 by China, US and Australia account for the large bulk of the expenses.

The expenses, military analysts said, do not cover the equipment of several countries like France and Britain.  Other expenses not included in the $44 million estimate include use of civilian aircraft and accommodations of military personnel and intelligence officials.  Around 14 ships and 14 planes are currently operating in the search area including the Australian's Ocean Shield.

So far Australia has shouldered around half of the cost since the search area has been reduced to the southern portion of the Indian Ocean off its western coast. Being the leader of the search team, Australia plans to be reimbursed at a later time.

Kym Bergman, editor of Asia-Pacific Defense Reporter, said the Australian Defense Force is contributing at least AUD $800, 000 per day and possibly more than that. One of its ships reportedly costs AUD $550,000 to operate per day.

"It's only reasonable that we should bear this cost - it's an act of international citizenship," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.

China has spared no effort in searching for the missing jetliner which carried 154 Chinese passengers. Numerous ships and planes have been deployed by China in the search which began more than a month ago.

Although China refused to quantify its search operations, China-run newspapers said that the operation of its ships and planes runs in the thousands of dollars per day.

China insisted that money is no object in searching for the plane "as long as there is a shred of hope."

The United States' Pentagon stated it has spent $3.3 million in the search and plans to spend more. It has deployed two of its Towed Pinger Locators which detected signals that could possibly come from the plane's black box.