海角大神

When Russian attack aircraft buzzed the USS Donald Cook in the international waters of the Black Sea, even as tensions in the region ratchet up, Pentagon officials decried the move as 鈥減rovocative.鈥�

How big a deal are these 鈥減rovocative鈥� actions on the part of the Russian military 鈥� or were these just a couple of rogue Russian pilots out for a joy ride?

US military officials quickly dismissed the latter option. 鈥淚 have difficulty believing that two Russian pilots, on their own, would choose to take such an action,鈥� Col. Steve Warren said during a Pentagon briefing Monday.聽

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen the Russians conduct themselves unprofessionally and in violation of international norms in Ukraine for several months,鈥� he added.

During the cold war, these sorts of flybys 鈥渉appened all the time,鈥� says Christopher Harmer, a retired Navy officer who served as deputy director of future operations for the US Navy鈥檚 Fifth Fleet.

In fact, these kinds of incidents happen more often than ever makes it into the press, says Mr. Harmer, now a senior naval analyst with the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.

鈥淲e used to call it the 鈥榮tandard harassment package,鈥� 鈥� and it was meant to send a message.聽

鈥淚t was their way of saying, 鈥榃e the Russian military are still capable of monitoring the US Navy and still capable of putting ourselves in a position to harm you if it comes to that,鈥� 鈥� he says.

Pentagon officials were quick to point out that the USS Cook 鈥渋s more than capable of defending itself鈥� against the Russian aircraft.

The incident, which took place Saturday, however, is 鈥渁n overt reminder that this is their backyard,鈥� Harmer adds, and that the Navy destroyer鈥檚 location in the Black Sea is 鈥渁 long way from US Navy bases and at the front doorstep鈥� of the Russian military.

The Russian aircraft flew within 1,000 yards of the ship and made roughly a dozen passes, but it did not fly over the destroyer, according to Pentagon officials.

鈥淭hat is about as tame a flyby as you can get,鈥� Harmer says. On the more aggressive end of the spectrum is a flyover of a ship such as an aircraft carrier, which happened on more than one occasion during Harmer鈥檚 time serving at sea.

That鈥檚 more dangerous because the airspace above an aircraft carrier 鈥渋s very constrained,鈥� he says, and a flyover can interfere with the ability of planes to land on the deck of the ship.

鈥淭he ship has got to be sailing directly into the wind, and it can鈥檛 really change course.鈥� Harmer says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 about as aggressive as you can get because you鈥檙e introducing safety into the operations.鈥�

The Russian fighter jets that flew over the USS Cook 鈥渄on鈥檛 have a lot of gas or a lot of endurance,鈥� so US Navy officers could rest assured that the jets would not harass their ship for long.

On the other hand, there were times during Harmer鈥檚 service when the Russian military would park its reconnaissance aircraft above a ship 鈥� and such aircraft are 鈥渕uch bigger, longer range, with more endurance.鈥�

In the Black Sea, with military bases nearby in Crimea, Russia could send aircraft to loiter above ships like the USS Cook for 鈥渆ight to 10 hours,鈥� Harmer says.

If that were to happen, US Navy ships could not conduct normal operations. This might mean that a ship would be prevented from sending out a drone that could take pictures of Sevastopol in the Crimean Peninsula, for example.

Or it could be prevented from rolling out equipment to do mapping of the Black Sea. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got pretty good maps of the Black Sea, but we could want more technical detail,鈥� Harmer posits.

In response to loitering planes, the ships tend to reduce their speed to a minimum, and run slowly in big circles, while the reconnaissance aircraft do the same.

鈥淵ou both just stare at each other,鈥� Harmer says. 鈥淚t might seem exciting, but it鈥檚 actually very boring.鈥�