美國即將擁有「會飛」的航母?
Air Force Could Test "Flying Aircraft Carriers" as Early as Next Year-最早明年美國空軍就能試驗『會飛的航母』
Rich Smith, The Motley Fool (作者)
從母機彈出的小精靈
電影中的小精靈
編按：
近半世紀以來，航母一向只能在海中執行任務，現在美國研究單位，構想把它增加活動空間到「空中」來，從前用「船」載飛機作戰，現轉為用運輸機載。而飛機當然是無人的戰鬥機(stealthy fighter)。這是載運工具的創新，目前迄未看到美國以外的其他強國，發表此項工作的成就与發展。尤其緊隨美、俄兩國的中國尚未評論。若此計劃成功，空中攻擊力將大幅提升，進而掌控制空權…..。
Or at least they will be if DARPA -- the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- has anything to say about it. As we learned this week from our friends at the Navy Times, DARPA is moving ahead on its effort to create a fleet of flying aircraft carriers, which it calls the "Gremlins" program, with demonstration flights scheduled to begin sometime next year.
DARPA設計的戰鬥機器人
或者至少他們將是對的, 如果 DARPA--『美國國防高級研究專案機構』--對此事有什麼話要說。如同本周我們從海軍時報上的朋友們得到的消息, DARPA 正在努力創造一支飛行航母的艦隊, 該機構稱它為 『小精靈』計畫-能躲避雷達偵測的無人攻擊機，並計畫在明年某個時候開始展示，示飛飛行。
That's a nice looking aircraft carrier you've got there -- but can it fly? DARPA's can. Image source: Getty Images.
你看到的是一個漂亮的航母, -但它能飛嗎？DARPA 製造的航母能。圖像來源: 蓋蒂圖片社。
What are Gremlins? 什麼是小精靈？
We've been watching this particular hush-hush DARPA project for more than two years now. In a nutshell, it calls for the creation of a new class of small, reusable drones that can be launched midair from a C-130 air transport, disperse to surveil (or, depending on the payload, attack) targets as much as 300 miles away, then return to their flying airbase to dock for refueling and rearming.
兩年多來，我們已經看了這項特別的DARPA保密專案。簡而言之, 它要求創造一種新型的體積小，可重複使用的無人機, 可以從 C-130 的空中運輸機中被發射到半空中，然後分散去監視 (或攻擊) 「依有效載荷而定」，的多達300英里遠的目標，然後，返回他們的飛行基地到的甲板，重新加油和裝備。
Basically, Gremlins will be flying, warlike Roombas, but supersized -- big enough to carry 60 pounds of payload each.
基本上，小精靈將飛行， 像好戰的機器人吸塵器一般，但超大型，大到每架足以攜帶60磅的有效載荷。
What are Gremlins for? 小精靈之用途
According to our friends at Scout Warrior, who've also been following this project closely, one key objective of the Gremlins is to extend the range at which U.S. air forces can operate in a contested environment characterized by an adversary employing A2/AD (anti-access/aerial-denial) tactics. These include the use of cruise missiles to keep aircraft carriers at bay, forcing airplanes to fly long distances to reach their targets, and surface-to-air missiles, which make it hazardous for nonstealthy aircraft to get too close to hostile territory by air.
小精靈是做什麼用的？據我們在『偵察員戰士雜誌社』工作的朋友透露，他們也一直在密切關注這個專案，小小精靈的一個關鍵目標是擴大航程範圍， 在這個範圍內，美國空軍可以在一個有爭議的空域中運行，其特點是在此環境中，敵人使用 A2/AD (反靠近/區域攔阻) 的戰略。這些戰略包括，使用巡弋導彈，來使航空母艦只能保持停留在海灣內，迫使飛機長距離飛行以到達目標, 並且使用地對空導彈, 而使非隱形飛機因危險而無法太接近敵方領土。
Obviously, nonstealthy C-130 air transports aren't the best way to penetrate such defenses. After Phase 3 of the Gremlins project is complete, the Air Force will probably want to order up a stealthy "mothership" to take over the role of "flying aircraft carrier." Such a mothership -- perhaps a modified version of Northrop Grumman's (NYSE: NOC) new B-21 bomber, or the yet-to-be revealed carrier-launched MQ-25 Stingray, could fulfill this role.
顯然，非隱形機運輸機-C-130 的空中運輸，不是突破這種防禦的最佳方法。在小精靈專案的第3階段完成後，美國空軍很可能會想下令一個隱形的 「母艦」，來接管 『飛行航母』 的角色。這樣的母艦-也許是一個修改版的諾曼公司 (NYSE: 紐約股市代號-NOC) 新的 B-21轟炸機，或尚未透露的，由航母發射的 MQ-25 魟，可以擔任這個角色。
Launched from an aircraft carrier, a more advanced mothership would fly stealthily into hostile airspace, undetected by radar. Suddenly, enemy radar screens would light up as dozens of unstealthy Gremlin drones appear seemingly from out of nowhere to conduct strikes, then return to their mothership and simply vanish into radar-invisibility once again.
巨無霸運輸機-C130
一艘更先進的母艦從航空母艦上發射出來，然後將悄悄地，未被雷達偵測到，而飛入敵方領空。突然，敵人的雷達螢幕會亮起來，顯示出好幾十個無人小精靈機群，似乎不知從何處出現來進行攻擊，然後返回他們的母艦，並再次在雷達上隱身消失。
At which point the mothership would return to base, never having been detected.
在此時, 母艦將無影無蹤地返回基地。
Sounds cool. But what does it mean to investors?
此計劃聽起來很酷，但這對投資者意味著什麼呢？
At one point, there was a chance that the defense giant Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), which makes the C-130, would also be chosen to build Gremlin drones to fly from the C-130 in Phase 3. This hope was dashed in March, however, when DARPA tapped two other large, privately owned defense contractors to lead the Gremlins effort.
在某方面看，從前有一個機會，製造防衛飛機龍頭之廠商-也就是製造C-130運輸機的巨頭-洛克希德馬丁公司 (紐約證交所股票代號: LMT)-,也將被選擇來建造小精靈機，使之可以在3階段中，從 C-130運輸機起飛。然而，這一個希望在3月份破滅，因當時 DARPA(美國國防高級研究專案機構) ，利用了另外兩家大型，私人擁有的國防承包商，來領導建造小精靈機的研究工作。
Dynetics and General Atomics (maker of the Predator drone) are currently building competing Gremlins prototypes for DARPA to review in "Phase 2" of the Gremlins project. Phase 3, which has not yet begun, will see DARPA choose one of the two prototypes to develop into a "full-scale technology demonstration system," the one that will be test-flown in 2019. At an estimated unit cost of "under $500,000," the ultimate value of the Gremlins program to investors will depend largely on how many Gremlins can fit aboard a mothership -- and how many stealthy motherships the U.S. Air Force decides it wants to buy.
Dynetics-先進電器公司和通用原子(雄蜂機製造商)公司，目前正在為DARPA建造具競爭力的小精靈機的樣機，以審查在 「階段 2」 的小精靈機專案。還未開始的3階段，將看到 DARPA(高級研究專案機構) 選擇兩個樣機中之一，發展成為一個 『完整的技術的示範系統』，它將在2019年試飛。據估計，其價格『在50萬美元以下』 的單位成本，小精靈機對投資者的最終價值，在很大程度上，將取決於有多少小精靈機能適合登上母艦--以及美國空軍決定要購買多少艘隱形母艦。
B-21 -隱形轟炸機- Northrop 公司製造
As for who will get this loot, although both Dynetics and General Atomics are privately owned, and therefore unavailable to individual investors to buy into, there may still be ways for investors to profit from a potential Gremlins award. This is because Dynetics, at least, is known to have enlisted the publicly traded defense firms TransDigm, Moog, and Kratos Defense & Security on its team as subcontractors to help with its effort. Whether this is the team that will win the Gremlins contract or whether all the money will go to privately owned General Atomics could be revealed later this year, assuming the Phase 3 award is announced ahead of its capstone event: the flight demonstration.
至於誰會得到這個承包的利益，雖然 Dynetics 和通用原子公司都是私人擁有，因此個人投資者無法購買，但可能還是有辦法，讓投資者從潛在的小精靈機投資中獲利。這是因為 Dynetics, 至少眾所周知的，已經與公開銷售國防武器的两家公司- TransDigm,穆格, 和奎托斯公司談妥，並將它們列為下游小包商，以助其努力獲得承包。這是否會將贏得小精靈機合同的一個團隊，或所有的錢將，會被私人擁有的通用原子公司賺取，可能今年晚些時候，將會透露清楚，假定3階段之獎勵，將在其最重要事情，即飛行示範之前宣佈:。
Further down the road, though, as the need for a stealthy mothership becomes more urgent, I'd expect further development money to be awarded -- probably going to a company with proven abilities in building stealthy aircraft. Northrop (maker of the B-2 and B-21) and Lockheed (which builds the F-35 and F-22) appear to be the most likely prospects in this regard.
F-35 B隱形戰鬥機-洛克希德 (製造)
然而，情形繼續發展下去，隨著對隱形母艦的需求變得更加迫切，我期望能獲得進一步的發展資金--送給一家證明具有製造隱形飛機能力的公司。諾史洛普 (B-2 和 B-21 的製造商) 和洛克希德 (製造 F-35 和 F-22)似乎是這方面最有可能獲得承包的廠商。
Justin Lai 譯文/插圖選註
01/30/2018
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