評論
打印
Aerial warfare
空戰
Blue-sky thinking
藍天暢想
Planes can be launched from land and sea. Why not from the air as well?
飛機能從陸地和海上起飛。為什么不能從空中起飛呢？
Aircraft-carriers are juicy targets. They are also increasingly vulnerable ones. Like medieval castles in the age of the cannon, technological advance threatens to make them redundant. Satellites and over-the-horizon radars mean pinpointing their locations is easier. And a single well-aimed, well-armed missile may be enough to render a carrier useless, even if one shot does not sink it outright.
航空母艦是誘人的攻擊目標。它們也越來越脆弱。就像大炮時代的中世紀城堡那樣，技術進步讓它們面臨被淘汰的危險。有了衛星和超視距雷達后，要精準定位它們變得更容易了。而一枚瞄準精確、裝備精良的導彈即使不能徹底擊沉一艘航母，可能也足以讓它報廢。
American naval planners are particularly worried about China's DF-26. This weapon, which came into service in 2018, is a so-called manoeuvring ballistic missile (meaning it can vary its final approach path, rather than being subject solely to the laws of gravity) that has been dubbed a "carrier killer". The DF-26 can be launched from a lorry, and can carry either a conventional or a nuclear warhead.
中國的東風-26格外讓美國的海軍規劃人員不安。這種武器于2018年開始服役，是一種被稱為“航母殺手”的機動變軌彈道導彈（也就是說它可以改變最后的接近路線，而不僅僅遵循萬有引力定律運動）。東風-26可從發射車上發射，可以搭載常規彈頭或核彈頭。
This threat is fearsome enough to keep American carriers at least 1,600km from China's coast, reckons Bryan Clark, a naval strategist at the Hudson Institute, a think-tank. That is much farther than the range of a carrier's warplanes unless they can be refuelled in-flight. America's Department of Defence is therefore looking for a workaround. One back-to-the-future idea being tested (it dates, originally, from 1917) is to turn a suitable plane into an aerial aircraft-carrier capable of launching and recovering uncrewed drones in flight. This would allow seaborne carriers to be kept well out of harm's way.
如此強大的威懾力足以讓美國航母退至距中國海岸線至少1600公里以外，智庫哈德遜研究所（HudsonInstitute）的海軍戰略研究員布萊恩克拉克（BryanClark）認為。這遠遠超出了航母戰機的作戰半徑，除非它們能在空中加油。因此美國國防部正在尋找對策。有一個“回到未來”式的想法（最早出現于1917年）正在試驗中，即把一架合適的飛機改造成能在空中發射和回收無人機的空中航母。這將使海上的航母遠離危險。
Castles in the sky
空中堡壘
To that end DARPA, the defence department's advanced research projects agency, is running a programme called Gremlins, a name that also applies to the individual drones themselves. A Gremlin drone weighs 680kg and has a wingspan of nearly 3.5 metres. Once it has been dropped, deployed its wings and fired up its turbofan engine, it can fly to an area up to 500km away and in the words of Scott Wierzbanowski, the Gremlin programme's head, "go in and create havoc". That done, it would then return to its aerial mothership.
為此，美國國防部高級研究計劃局（DARPA）正在開展一項名為“小精靈”（Gremlins）的項目，參與項目的無人機也叫這個名字。一架小精靈無人機重680公斤，翼展近3.5米。一旦它被投放到空中，展開機翼，啟動渦扇發動機，就可以飛到遠至500公里外的地方，用小精靈項目負責人斯科特維爾茲巴諾夫斯基（ScottWierzbanowski）的話來說，“前去大鬧天宮”。完成任務后，它將返回在空中的母艦。
Gremlins would operate in fleets, under ultimate human control. In this, they are similar to the "loyal wingman" idea of drone squadrons accompanying a crewed fighter aircraft into battle. Loyal wingmen, however, would take off from and land on terra firma, or possibly a conventional, naval, aircraft-carrier. Operational Gremlins need never touch the ground.
小精靈們會在人類的終端控制下編隊行動。在這一點上，它們和“忠誠僚機”的設計相似，也就是讓無人機中隊跟隨有人戰機參戰。但忠誠僚機的起降會在陸地上，或者有可能是在常規的海上航母上。而在執行任務中的小精靈永遠不需要接觸地面。
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