Russian Fighter Jet Disables US Missle Destroyer Using Electronic Warfare Weapon

The Russian Air Force Khibiny is an advanced aircraft-mounted electronic warfare (EW) system capable of jamming state-of-the-art air defense radar systems. The Khibiny jamming was tested successfully for some time on the ground in Buryatia, Russian Federation. On April 17, 2014, two Russian Air Force Su-24 bombers with no weapons loaded were sent to intercept the US Navy’s AEGIS-equipped destroyer USS Donald Cook in the Black Sea. One of them flied around the destroyer up to 12 times while the other one remained away as done usually by both sides during the Cold War period. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Su-24s were equipped with the Khibiny EW system and were able to neutralize the AEGIS phased array radar target tracking capabilities while the ship’s crew was unable to re-boot the system. It is not clear whether the jammer affected the radar system itself or only the computer-based component or either both at the same time. The Russian Air Force plans call for the installation of the Khibiny j