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來源于《社論》版塊
Aircraft-carriers
航空母艦
Sink or swim
自主浮沉
When it comes to aircraft-carriers, bigger isn’t better
航空母艦并不是越大越好
“No piece of hardware better exemplifies America’s military might than an aircraft-carrier,” declare the memoirs of Ashton Carter, America’s defence secretary in 2015-17. Nor does any other piece of hardware so plainly exemplify what is wrong with America’s military thinking. Aircraft-carriers are the largest and most expensive machines in the history of warfare. A new American Ford-class ship costs $13bn—more than the annual defence budget of Poland or Pakistan. However, as precision missiles become faster, more accurate and more numerous, these beasts look increasingly like giant floating targets.
“沒有什么硬件比航空母艦更能體現美國的軍事實力了，”美國國防部長阿什頓·卡特在2015-17年回憶錄中寫道。其他任何一件硬件也不能如此清楚地說明美國軍事思維的問題。航空母艦是戰爭史上最大最昂貴的機器。一艘新的美國福特級軍艦耗資130億美元，超過了波蘭和巴基斯坦的年度國防預算。然而，隨著精確導彈變得更快、更精確、數量更多，這些龐然大物越來越像巨大的浮動目標。
Although America has by far the world’s largest fleet of carriers— 11 of the full-sized sort, plus half a dozen smaller ones— their appeal is global, and growing. China’s first domestically built carrier will be commissioned within months. Britain’s second modern carrier began its sea trials in September. Even pacifist Japan is converting two destroyers to carry jets, for the first time since the second world war.
盡管美國擁有迄今為止世界上最大的航母艦隊——11艘全尺寸航母，外加6艘小型航母——但航空母艦的吸引力是全球性的，而且還在不斷增長。中國首艘國產航母將在幾個月內服役。英國的第二艘現代航空母艦9月份開始試航。就連奉行和平主義的日本，也將進行二戰后首次將兩艘驅逐艦改為噴氣式飛機的改造。
Aircraft-carriers have proved their worth in recent years. Many armed forces watched admiringly as American naval jets did the lion’s share of bombing in the early months of war in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 (and again in 2014). Land bases were often unavailable because of awkward geography or recalcitrant allies.
近年來，航空母艦已經證明了其價值。在2001年的阿富汗戰爭和2003年的伊拉克戰爭(以及2014年的伊拉克戰爭)的頭幾個月里，美國海軍戰機在轟炸中發揮了最大的作用，許多武裝部隊羨慕地看著這一幕。由于地理位置不佳或盟友頑固不化，地面基地常常無法使用。
But the seas off enemy shores look ever less safe. Russia and China are both developing long-range missiles that are manoeuvrable and accurate enough to hit large ships at sea. Several countries are building cheaper anti-ship cruise missiles, which fly shorter distances but can be launched from planes. Anti-ship missiles are growing in range, precision and number.
但是，在敵人海岸外的海域，似乎越來越不安全了。俄羅斯和中國都在研發遠程導彈，這種導彈的機動性和精確性足以打擊海上的大型船只。一些國家正在制造成本更低的反艦巡航導彈，這種導彈飛行距離較短，但可以從飛機上發射。反艦導彈的射程、精度和數量都在增長。
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