Russian bomber paralyzes US destroyer

This version, vigorously discussed in Russia's mass media as well as by bloggers, is also shared by Pavel Solotarjov, Deputy Director of the Institute for US and Canada at the Russian Academy of Sciences: "On April 10, the destroyer 'Donald Cook', with Tomahawk cruise missiles on board, reached the neutral waters of the Black Sea. The goal was to carry out an intimidation action and demonstrate strength in connection with Russia's position on Ukraine and Crimea. The appearance of American warships in this water contradicts the convention on the character and time limits for the presence of ships of countries in the Black Sea that do not border this sea."

In response, Russia sent an unarmed Su-24 aircraft to fly around the American destroyer. However, this aircraft, experts believe, was equipped with the latest Russian electronic warfare system. According to this version, "Aegis" detected the approaching machine from a distance, a combat alert was triggered. Everything proceeded as usual, the American radars tracked the approach course to the target. But suddenly, all screens went blank. "Aegis" was not functioning, the missiles could not receive target designation. The Su-24 flew over the deck of the destroyer, performed a combat maneuver, and simulated a missile attack on the target. The aircraft then turned around and repeated this maneuver. This happened twelve times.

According to all indications, all attempts to revive "Aegis" and provide target designation for the air defense weapons failed. Russia's reaction to the military pressure from the US was destructively calm, according to Pavel Solotarjov:

"It was a sufficiently original demonstration. A frontline bomber without any weapons, but with equipment for jamming the opponent's radar systems on board, faced off against a destroyer. The latter had been equipped with the most modern air and missile defense system. However, this mobile, in this case, ship-based system has a significant flaw. These are the capabilities for target tracking. Such systems work well when there are multiple ships, when their actions can somehow be coordinated. In this case, it was just one destroyer. And apparently, that algorithm for the functioning of the radar on the destroyer in the 'Aegis' system did not respond when the electronic warfare system was used on board the Su-24. Therefore, not only was there a nervous reaction to the act of flying around as such, which was only common practice during the Cold War. There was also a reaction to the fact that the most modern system, especially its information, its radar part, did not function as required. Therefore, such a nervous reaction from the American side was observed."

After this incident, as foreign media report, the "Donald Cook" urgently entered a port in Romania. (...)

The system with which the Russian Su-24 incapacitated the American destroyer "Donald Cook" is codenamed "Chibiny." This is the name of a mountain range on the Kola Peninsula beyond the Arctic Circle. "Chibiny" is the latest complex for electronic warfare against the enemy. (...)
Read more: http://german.ruvr.ru/2014_04_21/Russlands-Su-24-legte-einen-amerikanischen-Zerstorer-lahm-2419/

A SPIEGEL story about the incident does not mention the electronic knockout: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/ukraine-russischer-kampfjet-naehert-sich-us-zerstoerer-uss-donald-cook-a-964407.html