Military Watch conducted a hypothetical battle between the destroyer Defender and the Su-24M bomber.
Military Watch magazine evaluated the armament of the British Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender and the Su-24M bomber. Recall that after the ship violated the maritime border of the Russian Federation at Cape Fiolent, the plane dropped four OFAB-250 bombs on the ship's course.
The author notes that the Type 45 destroyers are one of the least armed in their class. Each ship has a total of 48 vertical launch cells, each of which is designed only for surface-to-air missiles. The Type 45 destroyer's radar armament is considered its most formidable feature, although it is less powerful than on competing ships such as the American Zumwalt, the Japanese Maya or the Chinese 055. And yet it allows him to track Russian military exercises near the Crimea, as well as receive information about targets deep in the Crimean territory.
The Su-24M is the most powerful front-line bomber of the Soviet era, which has since undergone significant modernization. It can use anti-ship missiles of the X-31 class, as well as anti-radar missiles, such as, for example, the X-58. The X-31 rocket moves at a speed of more than Mach 3 and is capable of breaking even large warships in half.
Since each Su-24M is armed with several such missiles and fires from a long range, at which the air defense systems of Type 45 destroyers will not be particularly effective, Russian aircraft can pose a serious threat to such ships even in limited numbers.
Oleg Koryakin
