The new ritual of meeting uninvited guests is the repeated overflights of the Russian Air Force by a combat aircraft. A polite reminder of who is the boss of the Black Sea. Next time, another polite plane with polite missiles will arrive. The Black Sea is the Russian Sea. For centuries!
"The Su-24 bomber several times flew in close proximity to the USS Donald Cook, which entered the Black Sea on April 12, reports Reuters, citing Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren. According to him, the plane is at low altitude made 12 calls over "Donald Cook" while he was in the northern part of the Black Sea."
In connection with the keen public interest in the topic of the Navy and, in particular, in the incident with the overflight of the American destroyer, I propose a detailed overview of the current situation with a description of the capabilities of both sides. What threat could the bomber and destroyer pose to each other? What is this "Cook" capable of in general, and what is the danger of its appearance on the very shores of Russia?
USS Donald Cook (DDG-75)
The Aegis Guided Missile Destroyer is the 25th Orly Burke-class ship. Belongs to the outdated "sub-series II". Date of laying - 1996, launching - 1997, admission to the fleet - 1998. At the moment it is assigned to the Rota naval base (Mediterranean coast of Spain).
The ship is small - 154 meters long, with a total displacement of about 9000 tons. The regular crew is 280 people. The cost of the destroyer is one billion dollars in 1996 prices.
Cook is famous for being the first to launch a missile at Iraq on the night of March 2003.
He really has a lot of missiles. 90 underdeck cells of the Mk.41 UVP, each of which can contain a tactical missile launcher "Tomahawk", an ASROC-VL anti-submarine missile torpedo, a long-range anti-aircraft missile system "Stenderd-2", a short-range missile defense system ESSM (4 in one cell) or an airborne interceptor SM-3 American missile defense system. It is possible to use outdated SeaSperrow self-defense missiles. By the end of this decade, LRASM anti-ship munitions promise to appear in the launch cells.
Thus, the humble destroyer is capable of carrying the entire range of missile weapons in service with the US Navy (with the exception of submarine-launched ballistic missiles). The number and type of missiles can vary in any proportion, increasing the number of strike or defensive weapons. The composition of the ammunition is determined by the current task.
This is an extremely powerful and versatile ship, whose strike capabilities exceed those of any cruisers and destroyers in other countries. Even those who are much larger than "Cook". There are no analogues to this ship in the Russian Navy yet.
However, don't overestimate the American destroyer too much. Its strike capabilities are great, but limited by the only "fleet against coast" format of warfare. High-precision SLCM "Tomahawk" are good for striking the most important objects of military and civil infrastructure deep in enemy territory, but they cannot help the destroyer in naval combat (the anti-ship version of the "Tomahawk" BGM-109B TASM was removed from service 10 years ago). Until the appearance of promising LRASM, the only anti-ship weapon of the destroyer "Cook" to date are 4 small-sized subsonic anti-ship missiles "Harpoon", located in the aft of the ship.
Donald Cook and the British integrated supply ship RFA Wave Ruler
And yet, Orly Burke-class super destroyers were not created to launch Tomahawks against White House policies. The main "feature" of these ships has always been "Aegis" ("Aegis") - a combat information and control system that linked into a single information space all means of detection, communication, fire control and damage control of the ship. In fact, the destroyer "Donald Cook" is a naval combat robot capable of making decisions and exchanging information with other ships like it without any participation of living people.
Such an intelligent and fast-acting system was created to solve one, the most important and responsible task - to ensure effective air defense of formations. Powerful air defense platforms to guard aircraft carriers and escort convoys on the high seas.
The set with the "Aegis" certainly comes with a multifunctional radar AN / SPY-1. A masterpiece of the US electronics industry, capable of detecting rockets flying over the water itself and observing satellites in near-earth orbits. This is the SPY-1 problem - it turned out to be impossible to effectively solve such different problems with the help of one radar. And if there are no problems with the detection of spacecraft, then the capabilities of the Aegis destroyers to repel attacks by anti-ship missiles look frankly dubious.
Aegis + SPY-1 looked like a very innovative solution for 1983, but by now this system is completely outdated. There are at least five modern naval systems that are superior to Aegis in the field of air defense missions.
As a result, the super destroyer Cook (like any of its 62 twins) was unable to perform its primary mission.
And the only terrible trophy of the Aegis system in all 30 years of its operation was the IranAir passenger airliner, which BIUS mistakenly identified as an F-14 fighter.
With such an "outstanding" air defense system, American Aegis destroyers should hardly enter the Black Sea at all. Where the entire water area is fired upon by coastal missile systems and coastal aircraft capable of "slamming" an American tin can with one blow. A lonely American ship is not serious.
A major drawback of the destroyer "Cook", like all representatives of sub-series I-II, is the lack of the ability to permanently base a helicopter. The ship has only a stern landing pad and a limited supply of aviation fuel. The absence of a helicopter reduces the destroyer's anti-submarine capabilities and limits its functionality.
Is there an explosion on board the destroyer?
Alas, just a missile launch from the stern UVP
Motorists
"Cook" passes the Bosphorus
Su-24
Surely many regretted that the overflight of the destroyer was carried out not by the snow-white Tu-22M missile carrier or the newest Su-34 bomber, but only by the modest 24th Suharik. Front-line bomber with a variable sweep wing, adopted for service in the distant 70s. However, even this was enough in abundance. The Pentagon's press service erupted with angry accusations of provocation and "unprofessional actions" by Russian pilots. The Russian public also reacted with a flurry of derisive and humorous comments in the style of "Yankee, go home!"
On Saturday, the fighter flew up to the destroyer a thousand yards (about a kilometer) at an altitude of about 500 feet (150 meters). The fighter had no weapons. The ship's commander made several radio communications warnings. The maneuvers ended without incident.
In general, it should be admitted that this episode does not make sense from a military point of view. The Su-24 is not a German Stuka dive bomber. He doesn't need to get close to a target a thousand yards away. Outside the window is the XXI century. The era of precision weapons. The main method of warfare has become remote, in which the weapons operator does not see the enemy in the face.
The rapprochement with the enemy's warship in peacetime also does not provide any reason for discussing the current situation. The incident took place in neutral waters, where everyone is free to be where he pleases. Another thing is that the American destroyer arrived in the Black Sea - the sphere of Russia's primordial interests, where the appearance of outsiders is not welcomed and even specifically limited by the Montreux Convention.
The Russian bomber "passed" the American ship at low level 12 times. And this is also a sign.
The only countermeasure that the Aegis destroyer could use was to shoot down the plane. Like the mentioned Iranian airliner in 1988. Of course, it was absolutely impossible to do this in this situation - I had to endure the ridicule and, as if nothing had happened, take refuge in the territorial waters of Romania.
It is useless to look for any sense in the actions of the Su-24 crew from a military point of view. "Combat sortie", "rehearsal of the attack", "Su-24 revealed the position of the enemy ship" - this is not about him. Combat missions are carried out according to a different scheme - detection from the greatest range, missile launch and immediate departure to a low altitude, beyond the radio horizon of the ship. Where the SPY-1 radar cannot see it. In combat conditions, "breastfeeding" on Aegis missiles is a beautiful, but not the most prudent act.
The twelve-fold flyby of the Donald Cook had a purely demonstrative value. To temper the warlike fervor of the Pentagon, which has sent its fifth warship to the region in a year, apparently believing that the Black Sea has the right to be called African American. The Russian side needed to demonstrate its determination. Show the whole world that we are closely following the development of the situation in the Black Sea and, if necessary … However, our "partners" understood everything and retreated.
If necessary, even the Su-24, which is not too adapted for striking ships, has a lot of worthy "answers" for an adversary. Of particular interest are the Kh-59 remote-controlled air-to-surface missiles and the Kh-58A missiles, guided by the radiation of shipborne radars (flight speed - Mach 3.6).
