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In the first nine months of 2017 there were 1,696 drone sightings, according to the FAA’s most recent data,
聯邦航空局（FAA）最新數據顯示，2017年前9個月，飛行員們就目睹了1696起無人機違章飛行事件，
compared with 238 in all of 2014, the first year the data were tracked.
而首次追蹤這一數據的2014年全年數據才238起。
The FAA expects the problem will get worse as the number of drones is estimated to triple to 3.5 million by 2021.
該局預計，到2021年，無人機數量還會上漲兩倍，達到350萬架，屆時問題將會更加嚴重。
The risk of small drones’ flying into sensitive facilities first came into public view in 2015
小型無人機飛入敏感設施的風險首次進入公眾視野是在2015年，
when a hobbyist lost control of a drone that crashed on the southeast side of the 18-acre secure zone around White House grounds at about 3 a.m.,
那年某日凌晨3點左右，一名無人機愛好者的無人機失去控制，飛入白宮附近方圓18英畝的安全區東南側墜毀，
triggering a Secret Service lockdown of the compound.
引發了特勤局對該區域的封鎖。
Drones are off-limits in the airspace in the 15-mile radius around Washington
距離華盛頓方圓15英里的空域都是無人機禁飛區，
and also over places like the Hoover Dam, the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore.
胡佛大壩、自由女神像和拉什莫爾山也是如此。
The drone that crashed near the White House, called a DJI Phantom, caused no damage, but it flew in undetected.
于白宮附近墜毀的無人機名為“大疆幻影”，雖未造成任何破壞，問題是該無人機飛入了禁飛區都未被發現。
That highlights one of the greatest challenges to tracking and countering drones deployed by bad actors.
這一問題也彰顯了追蹤和打擊心懷不軌之人部署的無人機所需面臨的一大挑戰。
Existing radar systems are designed to detect much bigger threats.
由于現有雷達系統的目標是探測體型比無人機大得多的威脅。
Most commercial drones are constructed of plastic and are difficult to spot electronically
而大多數商用無人機的材質都是塑料，加上電子設備很難識別——
because they’re small, fly low to the ground and don’t carry a transponder to signal their positions.
無人機體型很小，貼近地面飛行，加之沒有攜帶會暴露它們位置的應答器。
“It’s only a matter of time before the threat manifests in a violent way,” Defense Secretary James Mattis told a Senate panel in May.
今年5月，國防部長詹姆斯·馬蒂斯在參議院的一個小組會議上表示：“無人機造成嚴重安全威脅只是時間問題。”
The military has already faced the drone danger abroad.
在國外，美國軍方已經遭遇無人機威脅。
As American Special Operations commandos fought to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS in the fall of 2016,
2016年秋季，美國特種作戰突擊隊試圖從ISIS手中奪回伊拉克城市摩蘇爾時，
they faced a threat that American ground forces hadn’t dealt with: attack from the air.
就遭遇了美國地面部隊從未遭遇過的威脅：來自空中的攻擊。
Desperate to break the American-led siege of the city, ISIS militants sent fleets of small drones,
當時，ISIS武裝分子不顧一切地想要打破美國主導的對這座城市的包圍，便派出了由小型無人機組成的艦隊，
often several at a time, carrying grenades and miniaturized explosives, scattering troops and driving them to seek cover.
通常一次性派出數架攜帶有手榴彈和小型炸藥的無人機來分散美方力量，迫使美方尋找掩護。
“At one point there were 12 killer bees, if you will, right overhead,”
“曾經有一次頭頂多達12只殺人蜂，”
General Raymond Thomas, head of Special Operations Command, said last year,
去年，特種作戰司令部司令雷蒙德·托馬斯將軍說，
adding that the fighting nearly came to a “screeching halt.”
他還說，戰斗幾乎“戛然而止”。
The drones were too small for a fighter pilot or a tank gunner to pursue,
那些無人機體型過小，戰斗機飛行員或坦克炮手根本無法追擊，
which meant the troops’ only defense was to try to shoot the aircraft out of the sky with their rifles.
這就意味著軍隊唯一的辦法就是用步槍將其從空中擊落。
Thomas said the small drones were the “most daunting” threat his commandos faced during the house-to-house campaign in Mosul.
托馬斯還說，他的突擊隊員在摩蘇爾挨家挨戶展開行動時，小型無人機是他們面臨的“最令人畏懼”的威脅。
No U.S. casualties were reported.
然未出現有關美國人員傷亡的報道。
No American forces have been killed by an air attack since the Korean War.
自朝鮮戰爭以來，美國軍隊還未因為空中襲擊出現傷亡。
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