The Russian Su-24 bomber in the Black Sea, which flew over the American Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Donald Cook on January 31 for the third time in seven years, is becoming obsolete, Popular Mechanics writes.
The American magazine recalls that the Su-24 was built during the Cold War. “The aircraft from the 1980s is old enough that the closest US military equivalent, the F-111 Aardvark, is no longer in use,” the newspaper writes.
The magazine notes that the Su-24 was previously accompanied by Donald Cook in 2014 and 2017. “A Su-24 armed with anti-ship missiles can cause significant damage to a destroyer like Donald Cook, which nevertheless has its own defense systems that not only shoot down incoming missiles, but also make it difficult to hit the target,” the publication says.
In February, The Drive wrote that the US Navy, speaking of the Russian threat in the Black Sea, actually means Moscow's ability to quickly turn almost the entire water area into a kill zone with its anti-ship missiles.
Donald Cook entered the Black Sea on 23 January. Destroyer Porter of the same type – 28th. After their call, the Russian Armed Forces held exercises in the Black Sea. Later, a Russian Su-24 bomber flew next to Donald Cook.
In November 2020, the US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyer John Finn successfully shot down a simulator of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) nuclear warhead over the Pacific with the RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) Block IIA anti-missile missile.
