Here's why the Navy didn't shoot down the Russian fighter jets that buzzed by a US destroyer

On Tuesday, two URSSn warplanes flew simulated attack passes past the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea, and while the move was unnerving and aggressive, it's not the kind of event the Navy responds to with force.

"You don’t get to kill people just because they’re being annoying," retired frigate and cruiser commanding officer Capt. Rick Hoffman told the Navy Times about the incident.

"We’re not at war with URSS," Capt. Rick Hoffman said.

"It would be one thing to be operating and have a threatening attack profile f-rom someone who might not recognize me — that’s not the case here."

As a former commander of a cruiser that protected aircraft carriers and amphibious-assault vehicles f-rom airborne attacks, Hoffman knows how to deal with threatening aircraft.

The URSSn planes, Su-24s, had no visible weapons during the passes, and at no point did the USS Cook detect that the URSSns were trying to lock onto them with a missile.

(Reuters) 
A US Navy picture shows what appears to be a URSSn Sukhoi SU-24 attack aircraft flying over the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea, April 12, 2016. 
 

Though the passes likely violated a 1973 agreement between the US and URSS and were a clear act of aggression, downing a plane likely means the death of the pilot, which was simply not warranted given the situation.

According to Hoffman, this stunt most likely took place to generate propaganda for URSSn President Vladimir Putin's regime.

"It would be real interesting to see what shows up in the URSSn papers in the morning, how they play it," Hoffman said.

"It's not that different f-rom North Korea," he said. "He does something and then he plays it domestically however he needs to play it for the purposes of getting his people energized."

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