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| The P-8 Poseidon |
International Military - However, the story of the incident was not limited to this, the US claimed that their fleet also participated in crippling the ship that Russia was proud of. A cruiser, the P-8 Poseidon, was already patrolling the Black Sea sky to find the Moskva's position.
What was Poseidon doing then?
Citing Defense Security Asia, the US P-8 Poseidon has taken off from Sicily, Italy and headed for the Black Sea region near Romania. Defense Security Asia added that the purpose of deploying Poseidon there was to track down the Moskva warship.
While patrolling the Black Sea, Poseidon turned off all of his tracking systems to ensure he was not "seen" by Russian naval forces, particularly Moskva itself. The P-8 Poseidon reportedly "disappeared" for three hours before reappearing in the Flight Radar 24 system.
The Poseidon is based on the 737-800 commercial aircraft but is equipped with various advanced sensor systems with the aim of detecting warships and submarines from 100 miles away. An analyst told The Times that the number of US aircraft in the Black Sea region on the day of the incident was indeed more than usual.
And since Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, a wide variety of NATO surveillance planes and drones have been monitoring the Kremlin's movements in coastal areas of Poland, along the borders of Ukraine and the Black Sea.
Why?
One of the reasons why both the US and allies want to eliminate the warship Moskva is because it is equipped with an advanced radar and S-300 class air defense system. Automatically, it provides air cover to the Russian army and its military assets in the area around it. “Warships like the Moskva provide multiple layers of air defense to Russian soldiers and military assets.
Without air cover, both Russian troops and their military assets are now vulnerable to Ukrainian air strikes,” Defense Security Asia quoted. A source also rates, “If we have 90% “knowledge” in modern warfare, you know when the enemy is there, but the enemy is not, you can hit and kill them”, quotes The Aviation Geek Club.
Plus, the Moskva is too far away for radars operating in Ukraine. Poseidon-class aircraft is the solution. “Detect, track and report enemy positions. That is the essence of modern warfare usually goes on.”