The US Navy said on Friday that a Russian warship "aggressively approached" a US Navy
destroyer while it was operating in the North Arabian Sea, ignoring warnings from the US
vessel and increasing the risk of a collision.
The U.S warship was an Arleigh burke class destroyer USS Farragut and the Russian one
was Ivan Hurs, a Yuriy Ivanov class intelligence collection ship.
According to U.S defense officials, the Russian came as close as 180 feet to the US ship before
changing course.
The incident dubbed as unsafe or provocative is the latest instance of a close encounter
between US and Russian military forces.
This comes around seven months after another incident in the Pacific when US and Russian
warships came very close and the US ship had to perform an emergency maneuver to avoid
a collision.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why Russian warship Yuriy Ivanov had no option
but to change course when confronted by USS Farragut?
Let’s get started.
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The US Navy's 5th Fleet, which oversees naval operations in the Middle East, released a
statement which stated, "On Thursday, Jan. 9, while conducting routine
operations in the North Arabian Sea, USS Farragut was aggressively approached by a Russian Navy
ship.
Farragut sounded five short blasts, the international maritime signal for danger of a collision,
and requested the Russian ship alter course in accordance with international rules of
the road.
The Russian ship initially refused but ultimately altered course.”
The statement further added, "While the Russian ship took action, the initial delay in complying
with international rules while it was making an aggressive approach increased the risk
of collision.”
As per the reports, the Russian vessel finally turned away after bridge-to-bridge radio communication
was established with USS Farragut.
The Russian Defense Ministry responded Friday by accusing the USS Farragut of initiating
dangerous maneuvers.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the US Navy's claim "doesn't correspond with
reality," and accused the crew of the USS Farragut of acting "unprofessionally.”
The statement stated, "It was the US Navy destroyer, being on the
left of the Russian warship that was moving forward, grossly violated international rules
for preventing collisions of ships at sea on January 9, 2020, having made a maneuver
to cross [the Russian ship's] course,”
The Russian Defense Ministry added further, "The crew of the Russian warship acted professionally,
taking a maneuver that prevented a collision with the intruder vessel,”
Viewers may note that Russia had responded similarly after the encounter in June, claiming
it was the US ship that instigated the incident, That incident was between Ticonderoga-class
cruiser USS Chancellorsville and Russian Udaloy-class destroyer Admiral Vinogradov.
Ivan Khurs is a Yuriy Ivanov class ship.
The Yuriy Ivanov class (Project 18280) is a new type of Russian intelligence collection
ship.
The class is designed by the JSC Central Design Bureau Iceberg.
The displacement of the ships of this class is around 4,000 tons and they have a cruising
range of approximately 8,000 miles or 13,000 km.
The vessels of this class are designed for providing communication.
The first ship, Yuriy Ivanov, was laid down in 2004 and was launched on 30 September 2013.
Ivan Khurs was the second ship of this class and was launched on 16 May 2017.
Russia plans to build at least four ships of this class by 2020.
Ivan Khurs’s armament consists of light anti-aircraft weapons.
The ship on its performance characteristics and capabilities is considerably superior
to similar vessels of previous generations mainly due to the versatility and high level
of automation and systems integration.
USS Farragut (DDG-99) is the 49th ship of the Arleigh Burke class
Arleigh Burke-class warships were designed as multi-mission destroyers capable of Anti
Aircraft Warfare (AAW), Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Anti Surface Warfare (ASuW).
She was built by Bath Iron Works and was commissioned on 10 June 2006 and is currently operating
as part of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier group.
USS Farragut has an overall length of 509 feet (155 m) and a displacement of about 9,200
tons.
She is powered by 4 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines producing 100,000 hp (75 MW)
that drive 2 shafts.
USS Farragut has a speed of 30+ knots (55+ km/h) and a range of 4,400 nmi (8,100 km)
The Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers (DDGs) is the United States Navy's
first class of destroyers built around the Aegis Combat System.
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System is a United States Department of Defense Missile
Defense Agency program, developed to provide missile defense against short to intermediate-range
ballistic missiles.
Aegis BMD is designed to intercept ballistic missiles post-boost phase and prior to reentry.
It enables USS Farragut to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles by expanding the Aegis
Combat System with the addition of the AN/SPY-1 radar and Standard missile technologies.
Aegis BMD-equipped vessels can transmit their target detection information to other systems
and, if needed, engage potential threats using either the SM-2 or SM-3 missile.
The AN/SPY-1 RADAR is an advanced, automatic detect and track, multifunctional phased-array
radar.
This high-powered (4 MW) radar is able to perform search, track and missile guidance
functions simultaneously with a capability of over 100 targets.
USS Farragut carries a lethal array of sophisticated weaponry.
It has in total of 96 cell Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) divided into two blocks
of 32 & 64 cells.
These can be configured with the combination of the following weapons, based on the mission.
1. RIM-66M-5 Standard SM-2MR Block IIIB for Air Defense & Anti Ship role.
2. RIM-156A SM-2ER Block IV for Anti Aircraft & Anti Ship role
3. RIM-161 SM-3 for Ballistic missile defense.
It can also be used as an Anti-satellite weapon.
4. RIM-162A ESSM for anti-missile role.
It can be quad packed in single Mk 41 cell.
5. RIM-174A Standard ERAM or SM 6 for anti-air warfare including Ballistic missile defense.
It can also be used as a high speed anti-ship missile.
6. BGM-109 Tomahawk for land attack.
7. RUM-139A VL-ASROC anti-submarine missile
USS Farragutalso has 2 × Mk 141 Harpoon Missile Launcher for Anti Ship role as well as 2 × Mark
32 triple torpedo tubes are present for launching Mk-46 or Mk-50 torpedoes.
2 MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters are available for Anti Submarine Warfare.
Other than these, it is equipped with a long-range 5-inch naval gun.
The warship is also equipped with are multiple short-range weapon systems which include the
Phalanx CIWS and M242 Bushmaster cannon.
The displacement of USS Farragut is more than twice that of Yuriy Ivanov.
It is also a full-fledged offensive platform Yuriy Ivanov has no anti ship capability whereas
USS Farragut has multiple weapons for that role.
USS Farragut has the ability to take out Yuriy Ivanov from both short and long ranges.
It is good that the sane minds prevailed and Yuriy Ivanov moved out of the way, it was
no match for the USS Farragut.
But this kind of encounter is getting increasingly frequent and one of the reasons behind this
is Russia’s newfound confidence.
Recently Russian ship Victor Leonov which is equipped with electronic surveillance gear
was lurking off the East Coast of the United States.
To know more on that, viewers can check the video on the above card.
Belligerence and rough maneuvers can lead to a skirmish between two of the most powerful
countries in the world and both the counties need to be careful about his going forward.