According to the official report of the US Navy Europe-Africa Command, the destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) made its passage to the Black Sea in December 2021, ostensibly to practice interaction with NATO allies and partners in the region, in reality it was banal "gunboat diplomacy". USS Arleigh Burke is the lead ship of the Arleigh Burke missile destroyer class. These ships were the first destroyers in the world to be equipped with AEGIS guided missile systems.
NATO and Black Sea Security
The destroyer USS Arleigh Burke was the first US Navy ship in the series. Originally intended to protect against the Soviet aviation, anti-ship cruise missiles, and nuclear submarines, this higher-capacity ship was to be used in high-threat areas for anti-air, anti-submarine, and strike operations.
The actions of the ship in the Black Sea, according to the Americans, supposedly should strengthen interaction with allies and NATO partners and demonstrate a collective determination to ensure the security of the Black Sea.
The US Navy generally operates in the Black Sea in accordance with international law, including the Montreux Convention. "Arleigh Burke" should replace the same type of colleague - the destroyer "Porter", which has been patrolling in the Black Sea for two weeks now, rubs its side against the sea border of Russia. Both destroyers and two more of the same type "Ross" and "Roosevelt" are part of the 60th URO destroyer squadron based at the Rota naval base, also known as NAVSTA Rota. NAVSTA Rota has been in use since 1953, while Spanish dictator Francisco Franco was strengthening relations with the United States in a way that eased international sanctions imposed by the United Nations since 1945.
In the early 1960s, the Rota naval base was chosen as the location for the US Navy's 16th nuclear submarine squadron (SUBRON 16). American SSBNs from the 16th Squadron began combat patrols in the Mediterranean in March 1963. The US Naval Operations Command placed SUBRON 16 on a permanent basis in "Rota" from January 28, 1964 with the participation of the USS Proteus (AS-19) submarine mothership. The first to carry out combat patrols in the Mediterranean Sea based in Rota was the SSBN USS Lafayette (SSBN-616). In total, 10 SSBNs of the Lafayette type were based in Rota. On board the boats in the 1960s were 160 Polaris A-2 missiles, in the 1970s-1980s the same number of more modern Poseidon S-3s.
Destroyer Squadron 60 (DESRON SIX ZERO) was formed on February 19, 2003. The creation of the 60th destroyer squadron provided the Sixth the fleet - CNE / COMSIXTHFLT (permanently assigned) destroyer squadron, increasing the Sixth Fleet's capabilities in performing missions in the South European theater of operations. In fact, the squadron is the strike group of the US Sixth Fleet.
On October 5, 2011, US Secretary of Defense Panetta announced that the US Navy would deploy four Aegis warships in Rota on a permanent basis to enhance its presence in the Mediterranean and NATO missile defense as part of the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA). As of 2015, four American destroyers, including USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), USS Ross (DDG-71), USS Porter (DDG-78) and USS Roosevelt (DDG-80), are permanently stationed at the naval base A company as part of a missile defense system.
All four destroyers are actively used in combat operations in the Middle East and North Africa. In particular, on April 6, 2017, 59 Tomahawk missiles were launched from the USS Ross (DDG-71) and USS Porter (DDG-78) destroyers at targets in the Syrian Air Force Shayrat airbase near Homs. On April 14, 2018, US destroyers USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) and USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) launched 66 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syrian targets near Damascus and Homs.
On board the destroyers with standard missiles of 90 missiles, in addition to SAMs and PLURs, there are 56 KR RGM-109E Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM Block IV / V). The four destroyers carry 224 Tomahawk missiles together.
According to the Montreux Convention, the total tonnage of warships of non-Black Sea states in the Black Sea should not exceed 30 thousand tons (with the possibility of increasing this maximum to 45 thousand tons in the event of an increase in the naval forces of the Black Sea countries) with a stay of no more than 21 days. That is, in principle, 3 of the four destroyers of the squadron can be in the Black Sea in peacetime, and in wartime - all four.
On March 17, 1944, one reconnaissance Ju 88B-0 from squadron 3 (F) 121 took off from the airfield in Simferopol, climbed 6 meters, flew along the route laid over the Sea of \u200b\u500bAzov, more than XNUMX km to Rostov-on-Don, made detailed panoramic shots of the city and calmly and safely returned back along the same route.
Despite the fact that Rostov was liberated from the Germans 14 months ago. And the front during this time rolled back far to the west (the reader can imagine the front line on March 17, 1944). It was impossible to say that all the fighters were at the front at that time, and there was no one to cover the rear cities, the city was covered at that time by the 83rd Guards Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment, the photographs taken by the Germans show 12 fighter units in front-line aviation of the 1st Ukrainian Front).
Most likely, these are P-40 Kittyhawk fighters, they were in service with the regiment at that time. In general, it should be noted that the quality of images taken by German cameras Zeiss Reihenbildkammer Rb 10/18, Rb 21/18, Rb 30/18, Rb 50/18 and Rb 75/18 is so low that it is basically impossible to make out anything there. Our AFA-33 cameras gave a much clearer picture.
Not a single fighter ever rose to intercept the reconnaissance aircraft, the air defense simply did not see it. The absence of radar posts around the city is having an effect; a radar network of posts around Moscow already existed at that time. The entire flight route of the reconnaissance aircraft passed over the waters of the Sea of Azov, the armored boats of the Azov flotilla, which could visually detect the aircraft, were transferred to the Dnieper at the end of summer - the beginning of autumn 1943, civilian ships were in "winter hibernation", navigation for them will open in a month.
In general, there was no one to even visually detect an air target. Neighbors from the Baku air defense region - the 82nd IAP, armed with British Hawker Hurricane fighters, did not blunder, they discovered and shot down their intelligence officer: on August 14, 1942, lieutenants Borisov and Shcherbinok, in the area north of the city of Qusar, intercepted and shot down a German intelligence officer Junkers Ju 88B- 0.
After the war, the 83rd Giap remained in Rostov to guard the sky above it, only it was transferred from a civilian airfield on the eastern outskirts of the city to the northwestern outskirts of the city to a military airfield. In 1951, instead of the pretty worn-out P-40 Kittyhawks, the regiment received brand new MiG-15s. Five years later they were replaced by the MiG-19P and MiG-19S. In 1972, the regiment was one of the first to receive the latest MiG-25Ps at that time - 40 units. The last four years before its disbandment in 1998, the regiment was armed with the MiG-31.
US Tomahawks in the Black Sea
The new 2018 Nuclear Posture Review outlines plans by the US Department of Defense "to provide US Navy submarines and surface ships with more flexible nuclear response capabilities in line with the changing defense environment," Department of Defense and Energy officials said. At a press briefing on February 2, 2018 at the Pentagon, Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan said:
“Sea-launched cruise missiles with nuclear warheads will return to the fleet. None of the recommendations require the development of new nuclear warheads. Neither will increase the size of our nuclear arsenal. They (missiles) do not violate the treaty. They are consistent with our nonproliferation obligations. They are strengthening American deterrence."
One option for NEVs is a new sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) nuclear warhead that has been lobbied and promoted by the Trump administration. Congress funded the R&D of this weapons, and NNSA plans to start production in 2029, but it remains to be seen if the new Biden administration will support the program. If so, the missile could be fitted with a modified W80 cruise missile warhead (possibly a modification of the W80-5). In the early 80s, the W-80-0 warhead for the nuclear Tomahawk TLAM-N was created on the basis of a specific W-61-3 device with a capacity of 0,3–170 kilotons.
A total of 545 such devices were produced. 200 of them in the form of tactical air bombs B-61-3 are in service, and up to 345 more are disassembled in the warehouses of the energy department. They, most likely, will be installed after the conversion of the rocket to serial Tomahawk Block IV / V. With the denunciation of the INF Treaty, out of 350 naval Tomahawks, 400-XNUMX can receive nuclear warheads.
Despite the fact that US President Biden and his supporters from the Democratic Party generally do not favor the SLCM-N program, the program is not closed, but only slowed down. Suddenly, in March of this year, the SLCM-N program had a new, very influential patron. General Anthony Cotton is the new head of the US Strategic Command, which is responsible for the country's nuclear arsenal, and an ardent supporter of arming the fleet with nuclear tomahawks.
A salvo of 168 KR Tomahawk from three destroyers of the 60th squadron from the Black Sea or the eastern regions of the Mediterranean Sea and the launch of 48 KR LRASM air-based from only two B-1B bombers (in the fall of 2021, a massive strike of KR LRASM, conditionally launched from two B-1B bombers against ships of the Black Sea Fleet in the Sevastopol Bay, was practiced during the exercises) only as a local operation of NATO forces on the southern flank - this is already a very serious threat. There are 216 missiles in total, of which 10-15 are nuclear-armed Tomahawks.
As of February 24, 2022, the 51st Air Defense Division, covering civilian and military facilities from air strikes in the Southern District, had at its disposal three anti-aircraft missile regiments armed with S-300PMU1 and S-400 systems - the 1536th anti-aircraft missile regiment (Rostov-on-Don), the 1537th anti-aircraft missile regiment (Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Territory) and the 1721st anti-aircraft missile regiment. But, as they say, “God saves the safe”, it would be nice to impose “Shells” around the perimeter of the borders of the large million-plus cities of Rostov and Krasnodar. The cities are actually not that big in area, Rostov is no more than 30 km long and no more than 12 km wide. Four "Shells" along the perimeter of the city will block the detection zones of each other's low-flying targets and the zones of destruction with a vengeance. I am more than sure that all this has already been done.
It will not be easy, in the event of a massive strike by cruise missiles from NATO ships and aircraft, to our operators of the S-300 PMU / 400 SNR systems - the airspace over the Black Sea coast will be oversaturated with targets, not just a large, but a huge number of low-flying, inconspicuous targets, nor one of them cannot be missed, even one broken "nuclear Tomahawk" will demolish half the city, even such a large millionaire as Rostov or Krasnodar.
At present, I hope, yes, I am simply convinced of this, the Southern Military District has everything necessary to repel a massive attack by cruise missiles on military and civilian targets on the territory of our country.