Russian bomber disables U.S. radar and scares off USS Cook real or propaganda?

[itsme]

Has anyone else heard this story:

US destroyer “Donald Cook” with cruise missiles “Tomahawk” entered the neutral waters of the Black Sea on April 10. The purpose was a demonstration of force and intimidation in connection with the position of Russia in Ukraine and Crimea. The appearance of American warships in these waters is in contradiction of the Montreux Convention about the nature and duration of stay in the Black Sea by the military ships of countries not washed by this sea.

In response, Russia sent an unarmed bomber Su- 24 to fly around the U.S. destroyer. However, experts say that this plane was equipped with the latest Russian electronic warfare complex. According to this version, “Aegis” spotted from afar the approaching aircraft, and sounded alarm. Everything went normally, American radars calculated the speed of the approaching target. And suddenly all the screens went blank. “Aegis” was not working any more, and the rockets could not get target information. Meanwhile, Su-24 flew over the deck of the destroyer, did battle turn and simulated missile attack on the target. Then it turned and repeated the maneuver. And did so 12 times.

Apparently, all efforts to revive the “Aegis” and provide target information for the defence failed. Russia’s reaction to military pressure from the United States was profoundly calm, feels the Russian political scientist Pavel Zolotarev:

The demonstration was original enough. A bomber without any weapons, but having onboard equipment for jamming enemy radar, worked against a destroyer equipped with “Aegis”, the most modern system of air and missile defence. But this system of mobile location, in this case the ship, has a significant drawback. That is, the target tracking capabilities. They work well when there is a number of these ships which can coordinate with each other somehow. In this case there was just one destroyer. And, apparently, the algorithm of the radar in the “Aegis” system on the destroyer did not load under the influence of jamming by the Su-24. It was therefore not only a nervous reaction to the fact of flying around by the Russin bomber which was common practice during the Cold War. The reaction of the Americans was due to the fact that most modern system, especially its informative or radar part, did not work adequately. Therefore, there was such a nervous reaction to the whole episode.

After the incident, the foreign media reported that “Donald Cook” was rushed into a port in Romania. There all the 27 members of the crew filed a letter of resignation. It seems that all 27 people have written that they are not going to risk their lives. This is indirectly confirmed by the Pentagon statement according to which the action demoralized the crew of the American ship.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/11/13/aegis-fail-in-black-sea-ruskies-burn-down-uss-donald-duck/

U.S. Navy Press release: http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=80584

This is rather concerning if it is true. Some claim it's simply Russian propaganda, others claim the incident is being sugar coated by the U.S.

[Foamy T. Squirrel]

This is an intel game. Each participant pokes around to find info about the enemy, the enemy disguises a possible response; both walk away only knowing that perhaps the other one can poke or has been poked, but learning nothing concrete about the opponents capabilities or vunerabilities, since both by nature are cloaked.

It's what's called "The Black Art,": Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence operations.

You'll only know who won the game after the bombs are dropped.

[JoJoGunne]

The blog you cited gives no links to supporting data.  That, alone, casts doubt on the reliability and accuracy of the events described.  But what REALLY makes me tend to dismiss the whole article is the contention that "all the 27 members of the crew filed a letter of resignation".

1.  Officers might be able to submit letters of resignation...depending if they have fulfilled their initial obligation to the Navy, but Chief Petty Officers and enlisted crew members cannot.  The Petty Officers, if they have more than 20 years in service can request retirement.  Enlisted crew are serving under their enlistment contract and have no ability to resign, though they may ask to be released from their contract.  Such a request is unlikely to be granted by the Navy, however.

2.  According to publicly available information, the USS Donald Cook has a crew of 23 Officers, 24 Chief Petty Officers and 291 Enlisted.  Far more than the 27 crew members cited in that blog.

http://www.public.navy.mil/surflant/ddg75/Pages/ShipCharacteristics.aspx

3.  I've been in the Army and I cannot believe that a complete unit would abandon their mission...their Service...and their country.  Not under ANY circumstances.  The Navy is no different.

So...regardless the conspiracy theories, there is, as far as that blog is concerned, no support for what it says...except that the ship was buzzed by Russian aircraft around the date cited.  Frankly, I find the whole story to be so lacking in credibility that it's not even worth my time to consider it.

But hey...as long as we are wearing our tinfoil hats, we should also consider the possibility that the USS Donald Cook purposely placed itself in that position...ie, a lone ship in possibly hostile waters...so that it could gain data on current Russian jamming technology.  If so, you can be sure the Navy is developing protection against such technology.

[Ozi]

Again half a story, the USS Donald Cook, operating out of a forward base in Rota Spain, was conducting exercises at sea with the USS Taylor, in conjunction with the Romanian Navy’s ROS Regina Maria and ROS Marasesti.

The exercise included a visit by the Romanian President Traian Bsescu.

The U.S. Navy, on a normal and routine basis, operates ships in the Black Sea consistent with the Montreux Convention and International Law as part of the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations contribution to regional maritime security,  bilateral and multilateral training missions, and to support NATO operations and deployments throughout the region.

The US doesn’t need to flex its muscles in an area they patrol on a regular basis. What would be surprising is the US not being scrutinised by the Russians.

Addition, interesting post from someone who read the article:-

The aircraft that flew near the Cook does not have any electronic countermeasures capability aside from a little bit of self-defense.

Guess what...my JOB was Airborne EW and I have Military Subspecialty Code 0046S in EW. I can still take the old ERA-3B Skywarrior I used to fly and "black out" any Russian or American radars you throw me against.

Jamming radars is not tough at all and certainly not enough to even raise the eyebrow on the EW Officer on the Cook IF it happened, which it did not.

You guys REALLY need to stay away from http://www.nutbarconspiracy.com and http://www.tinfoilhatbrigade.org and quit wasting your money on all that tinfoil.

Source(s):

Disabled Vietnam Veteran - Navy Airborne Electronic Warfare Officer

[BBsq69]

Russian bombers have been buzzing British airspace and their submarines have been going into Scandinavian territory. It's probably just Putin posturing. Maybe they are hoping something will be shot down or destroyed as they are hoping to portray themselves to their own people as victims.

[TBG 150]

This is known as...    :poke: