Why is the Russian Aerospace Forces regularly shocked by the American destroyer "Donald Cook"

A few days ago, the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) USS destroyer once again entered the Black Sea through the Turkish straits from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. Since, in accordance with the Montreux Convention, American ships can stay in the Black Sea area for no more than 21 days, the US Sixth Fleet carries out their regular rotation. The Russian Aerospace Forces greeted "Donald Cook" rather unfriendly, which is not surprising.

According to the available According toOn that day, six Russian planes, four fighters and two bombers took off in Crimea at once. Su-27 and Su-30SM simulated an air attack on an American destroyer, electronic warfare means were used to suppress the Kuka air defense system, and then the Su-24M went to finish off. Fortunately, no one was hurt. DDG-75 changed course and instead of Crimea, to whose sea borders he was clearly going to approach dangerously, he took the direction to the Romanian port of Constanta.



Immediately after the publication of this information in the domestic blogosphere, heated discussions began about who would actually "make" whom, an American URO destroyer or Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft. The fact that the Donald Cook had already become a "victim of an air attack" from the Russian Su-24 in 2014 added some piquancy to what happened. Then the outdated aircraft with removed weapons 12 times in a row imitated calls to the ship, while, as reported, the destroyer's air defense / missile defense system was suppressed by the Khibiny electronic warfare system, which made the vaunted Aegis ineffective.

And now history repeated itself. Already not one, but six Russian planes at once depicted the sinking of "Donald Cook". A discussion immediately began about how realistic this was. Americanophiles quite rightly point out that the DDG-75 is a representative of the best-in-class URO destroyer, which is an integral part of the US global missile defense system. "Aegis" is capable of hitting ballistic missiles and satellites at an altitude of 350 kilometers with a range of 3500 kilometers. In addition, they are equipped with the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow air defense system and Falanx anti-aircraft artillery mounts. Also on board the Donald Cook and its many brothers in the Arleigh Burke series are the Tomahawk sea-launched cruise missiles, which can strike enemy ships and ground bases.

Let's honestly admit that each such destroyer is definitely not a gift, even one can mess things up. But he also does not pull on the "wunderwaffe". This honest "workhorse" of the US Navy, which has entered the Black Sea, can also be sent to the bottom by Russian fighters and bombers, as well as coastal missile systems "Ball" and "Bastion" and ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. But when reading the numerous arguments on this topic, it is truly bewildering why the situation of confrontation of a Russian aircraft against an American destroyer or a coastal "Bastion" against the same destroyer is being modeled.

This is not a computer game where you can “save” and try to push different “units” together for the sake of fun. If "Donald Cook" knocks down our planes, or the Russian Aerospace Forces send an American warship to the bottom, a war will probably begin between the two nuclear powers. This business is so terrible that both Moscow and Washington hardly want this. The USA and the USSR, and now the Russian Federation as its legal successor, prefer to confront each other in the “proxy” format on the territory of third countries.

There are certain rules of the game. In Syria, for example, the Russian and American military prefer to recklessly and “push on the road,” but not shoot each other. So in the Black Sea, our pilots fiddled a little, and the Americans pretended to be frightened. And it’s better to keep it that way.