Cold War Military Games

[lcam88]

A second Russian encounter with the USS Donald Cook (http://gizadeathstar.com/2016/04/uss-donald-cook-buzzed-russian-aircraft-time-baltic/).

Maybe the software upgrades or whatever didn't quite work so well?

[bsbray]

Just to clue people in who don't click your link:


Now, before we parse these articles, recall that the USS Donald Cook was the US naval vessel "buzzed" by an old Russian SU 24 fighter bomber in the Black Sea during the Ukrainian-Crimean crisis. The Su 24 approached the vessel and, according to most reports, the Aegis-class missile destroyer's electronic systems went completely dead. The Su-24 then executed no less than 12 mock attack runs, and the vessel then beat a hasty retreat to the Romanian port of Constanza, where, we were reassured, the vessel was scheduled for a routine stop to "show the flag." The US has consistently either denied or downplayed any suggestion that the electronics systems failure and the Russian "mock attacks" were related.

Now consider these statements from the first article(USA Today); it begins by a review of the incident: [...]

Even though the Pentagon seems over-all to be working with the Russians (evidenced, for example, with its coordinated withdrawal of military elements from at least Turkey and the Persian Gulf when Russia moved into Syria), the US military administration is a large body and there is room for opposing factions within it. Remember also that there was a US officer who was fired for intentionally dropping supplies to ISIS, though he claimed it was happening by mistake. The fact that he was exposed by other officers and fired for it indicates that his activity was not necessarily being condoned by his superiors. There has been factionalism within the US military at least since WW2, when different branches developed their own intelligence networks.

My personal interpretation of this is that this ship was following orders antagonistic to Russia, and Russia knew that its response would force the ship's hand. What you will not see is a large-scale conflict erupt between the US and Russia, because the warmongering faction seems to be on its way out of power across the board, not just in the US military command but in politics (as long as Hillary or Cruz don't get in).

[Gale Frierson]

There was once a movie with Matthew Broderick entitled "War Games". Very interesting indeed. Google it and you'll see some interesting comparisons, especially after watching the movie itself. Somewhat prophetic.

[Aragorn]

There was once a movie with Matthew Broderick entitled "War Games". Very interesting indeed. Google it and you'll see some interesting comparisons, especially after watching the movie itself. Somewhat prophetic.

For that matter — since we're bringing the entertainment sector into the debate — there is also the Space: 1999 episode "War Games", which I have posted here (http://jandeane81.com/threads/8943-Gerry-Sylvia-Anderson-s-Space-1999-the-complete-series?p=841947524&viewfull=1#post841947524) at The One Truth (along with all the other episodes of this series) for everybody's intellectual edification, enjoyment, relaxation and dining pleasure. :D

(With thanks to Gregory Stephen Koch for the inspiration in this onslaught of unusually lyrical vocabulary. :p)

[lcam88]

What is interesting to me about the two USS Donald Cook incidents is that these Su-24 (Russian plane with a similar ground support capability as the A-10) buzzed the US vessel that then had some if not all of its computer system in complete malfunction. A few weeks after the first incident USAF flew a plane over LAX and that subsequently reported air traffic control system had malfunctioned, indeed the coincidence between the LAX malfunction and the fly-by of a military plane was missed by most everyone except the eagle eyes over at gizadeathstar.com.

Now, just days after this second incident, an EC-130 reconn aircraft flew over the baltics to provoke a response (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-17/russian-fighter-jet-flies-within-50-feet-us-recon-plane-over-baltic-sea).

It seems that if the EC-130 flyby was meant to try to peak at what Russian EW is doing, and they where having none of that. The technological aspect of the US military renders a huge advantage tactically, but it seems that such an advantage depends on some measure of protection from Russia's ability to cause the systems go haywire.

Electronic warfare of this kind is nothing new; its an arms race similar to any other.