遠程遙控戰(zhàn)爭——無人機讓戰(zhàn)爭變得更簡單

 

 

 

From his spot beneath the famous Wright Military Flyer in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Peter Singer is reminded of a modern military drone.

彼得·辛格的工作場所在著名的萊特軍用飛機下,，該飛行器現(xiàn)在是史密森國家航空航天博物館的財產(chǎn)；彼得·辛格與人們談起了現(xiàn)代軍用無人機,。

"The story of manned airplanes is a great parallel to what's happening now with unmanned airplanes," he tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin.

彼得·辛格在周末告訴《無所不包》欄目的嘉賓主持人雷切爾·馬?。骸拔覀兛梢詮挠腥笋{駛飛機的歷程來推測無人機現(xiàn)在的發(fā)展進程?！?B class="label bg2" jQuery1322468724092="70">

Singer, a technological warfare expert and author of the book Wired for War, has had drones on his mind a lot lately. The Department of Defense is under pressure to cut close to a trillion dollars from its budget over the next 10 years, so there's a lot of talk around the Pentagon about what can go and what can't.

彼得·辛格是一位武器技術(shù)專家,，寫了一本名為《戰(zhàn)爭絞索》的書，最近對無人機的發(fā)展進行了探討?，F(xiàn)在,，美國國防部在各方面的壓力下，不得不削減未來十年內(nèi)的一萬億美元預算,，對于五角大樓在什么方面可以削減,，什么方面不能削減，人們對此有很多不同意見,。

Most defense officials agree that what can't be cut is remote aerial technology. Drones have taken center stage in the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the counterterrorism fight in Pakistan. The ability to fight wars without risking U.S. lives is raising questions about the nature of combat.

很多國防部官員都認為涉及航空遙感技術(shù)方面的預算是不應當被削減,；眾所周知，無論是在伊拉克和阿富汗的戰(zhàn)場還是在巴基斯坦的反恐行動中,，美國的無人機均發(fā)揮了主要作用,；也是因為無人機在戰(zhàn)場的運用，不用美國大兵冒著生命危險去戰(zhàn)斗,，這不禁讓人們重新思考未來戰(zhàn)爭的本質(zhì)特征,。

Skepticism From The Wright Brothers On

在萊特兄弟時代就存在的爭議

The Wright Military Flyer, Singer says, is a reminder of just how far drone technology has come.

彼得·辛格表示人們可以從萊特軍用飛機的出現(xiàn)來思考無人機技術(shù)的發(fā)展方向,。

In 1903, he says, The New York Times printed an article under the headline "Flying Machines Which Do Not Fly" that argued it would take millions of engineers and mechanics tens of thousands of years to build an actual flying machine. The idea, Singer says, was considered science fiction.

彼得·辛格提到1903年的《紐約時代》雜志刊登了一篇名為《無法飛起來的飛行機器》,，該文章聲稱為了建造一臺能夠真正飛行的機器,，需要數(shù)百萬名工程師工作數(shù)萬年的時間才能將這項工作完成。彼得·辛格說飛機在當時就是科幻小說里的東西,。

But on the very day that article was printed, Singer says, "two brothers in Dayton, Ohio, start to assemble the first real flying machine in their bicycle shop."

彼得·辛格說：“就在這篇文章被印刷的同一天,，萊特兄弟在俄亥俄州代頓市自家的自行車車間內(nèi)開始裝配第一臺實際意義上的飛機?！?B class="label bg2" jQuery1322468724092="76">

It wasn't long until the military opened bids for what were then called "heavier-than-air" flying machines. The Wrights signed a contract, and the Military Flyer was born.

不久,，美國軍方就“比空氣質(zhì)量重”的飛行機器進行了招標，萊特兄弟由此得到了軍方的訂單,，軍用飛機由此誕生,。

"It's just like any other technology — whether it's what happened with the horseless carriage or what happened with the computer," Singer says. "Starts out as imagination, and then it gets crossed with innovation, profit seeking and, most importantly, that horrible human need to figure out how to destroy one another."

彼得·辛格說：“與其他任何技術(shù)一樣，不論是汽車還是電腦,；開始的時候只是人腦中的幻想,，隨即人們或者出于創(chuàng)新的目的，或者出于掙錢的目的,，還有更重要的,，出于相互屠殺的目的，該幻想被實現(xiàn)了,?！?B class="label bg2" jQuery1322468724092="78">

More than 100 years later, aerospace pioneers are still convincing the rest of us their work isn't the stuff of science fiction.

在飛機被發(fā)明出來后端一百多年的時間里，航空先驅(qū)們不斷地向人們證明,，飛機不再是科幻小說里的物品,。

That's literally the tagline of a recent Air Force recruiting ad featuring drone technology: "It's Not Science Fiction. It's What We Do Every Day." The ad shows a robotic aircraft scanning a desert landscape with a camera that looks like a bright red eye, alerting troops on the ground of a nearby sniper.

美國空軍最近推出了一條關(guān)于無人機技術(shù)的廣告標語——“這不是科幻小說，這是我們每天都工作”,。在廣告里,，一架自動的無人機使用一臺紅眼攝像頭掃描沙漠，并通知地面部隊附件有狙擊手,。

Not far from the Wright exhibit at the Air and Space Museum, you can find an exhibit featuring five different drones — the Air Force prefers the term "remotely piloted aircraft. Among the aircraft is an MQ-1 Predator, similar to the drone from the Air Force ad. These drones have special meaning for Singer.

距離萊特飛機展區(qū)不遠的太空博物館,，人們在這里可以看到五種不同的無人機，美國空軍對無人機的正式名稱為“遠程控制飛機”,。MQ-1“捕食者”無人機就被展示的飛機之中,，它看起來與空軍廣告中的無人機有幾分神似。在彼得·辛格的眼里,，這些無人機有著特殊的意義,。

"They're actually just like that Wright brothers Flyer," Singer says. "They're the first generation of all this."

彼得·辛格說：“他們的地位與萊特兄弟發(fā)明的第一臺飛機不相上下，他們是第一代無人機,?！?B class="label bg2" jQuery1322468724092="82">

Remote Defense Takes Off

遙控防務裝備開始起飛

Singer says not a single Western aerospace company has a manned combat aircraft in research and development. The MQ-1 Predator is the military's main workhorse; on Sept. 11, 2001, the Air Force had one.

彼得·辛格說沒有一家西方航空公司能夠單獨完成有人戰(zhàn)斗機的研發(fā)工作,。MQ-1“捕食者”現(xiàn)在是美國軍方的主力無人機機種；但在2001年9·11事件發(fā)生時,，美國當時只有一架“捕食者”無人機,。

"We've now got 57 Predators up, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, looking at different target points around the world," says Air Force Maj. Gen. James Poss. Poss helps oversee the Air Force's surveillance programs, which mostly revolve around drones.

基恩·詹姆斯·珀斯是美國空軍的一名少校，他告訴記者：“我們現(xiàn)在使用五十七‘捕食者’無人機在一年三百六十五天,，每天二十四小時不間斷地監(jiān)視遍布于世界各地的目標,。”珀斯少校無意中提及到了美國空軍的監(jiān)視計劃,，這些計劃大多使用無人機執(zhí)行建設任務,。

Poss says the Air Force now recruits more pilots for unmanned aircraft than fighter and bomber pilots combined. A lot of the skills pilots need are the same — spatial awareness, quick critical thinking skills — but unlike pilots for manned aircraft, remote pilots don't need perfect vision. They don't need to worry about getting airsick. And combat can bring different strains, too.

珀斯少校表示美國現(xiàn)在招募的無人機駕駛員數(shù)量比美國戰(zhàn)斗機和轟炸機的飛行員的總數(shù)還多。與戰(zhàn)斗機和轟炸機的飛行員的要求一樣,，無人機駕駛員必須掌握包括空間感和快速反應在內(nèi)的技巧,，與有人駕駛飛機不同，無人機飛行員不需要良好的視力,；無人機駕駛員也用不著擔心暈機的問題,，無人機是以一種不同于有人駕駛飛機的方式進行作戰(zhàn)。

"Unlike a person that deploys to combat, our remotely piloted aircraft force never leave combat," Poss says. Also, "you do leave your ground control station and drive home and you have to mow the lawn."

珀斯少校說：“與將戰(zhàn)斗人員部署到戰(zhàn)斗位置的行動不同,，我們遠程操作的無人機駕駛員從來就沒有離開戰(zhàn)場,，同時在完成任務，離開地面控制站后,?！?B class="label bg2" jQuery1322468724092="87">

One Predator pilot, he says, has been stationed at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, flying surveillance over the same area of southwest Asia for nine years.

珀斯少校提到了一位在內(nèi)華達州美國空軍克里奇基地工作的“捕食者”無人機駕駛員，該駕駛員已經(jīng)操控“捕食者”在亞洲西南部地區(qū)執(zhí)行了九年的監(jiān)視工作,。

"The overwhelming advantage we get," Poss says, "is that if you want to go and talk to a world expert on Iraq or Afghanistan, maybe you don't need to go to Iraq or Afghanistan. Maybe you need to talk to that young captain down at Creech, because they've been staring at that ground for the past nine years."

珀斯少校說道：“這是我們利用無人機取得的巨大優(yōu)勢,。如果你要與一位伊拉克或阿富汗的國際事務專家進行討論，你不必去伊拉克或阿富汗,，你只要與我們卡拉奇基地的年輕上校們討論就行了,，他們在過去的就一直對伊拉克或阿富汗進行監(jiān)視?！?B class="label bg2" jQuery1322468724092="89">

A War Over There

無人機決戰(zhàn)天空

The extreme distance between Nevada and Afghanistan keeps a remote pilot out of harm's way, but Singer argues it also introduces a host of complications about how we define war.

內(nèi)華達州和阿富汗的距離十分遙遠,，讓無人機駕駛員不會受到任何傷害。珀斯少校說有很多關(guān)于重新設定戰(zhàn)爭的討論了,。

He points out that Obama skirted congressional authorization for military action in Libya, arguing that air support for the European effort did not risk U.S. forces. Yet, he says, the U.S. carried out 146 airstrikes in Libya — including a final strike that may have contributed to the capture of Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

珀斯少校指出奧巴馬總統(tǒng)繞過國會的授權(quán),，批準了在利比亞的軍事行動，奧巴馬總統(tǒng)認為對歐洲解決利比亞的行動提供空中支援并不會危及到美國軍方人員,；但珀斯少校也指出美國在利比亞進行了146次空中打擊,，最后一次在利比亞的空中打擊與卡扎菲的被抓有關(guān)系。

The U.S. has also carried out hundreds of airstrikes over Pakistan using drones, raising questions about the nature of aerial combat. The strikes have led to civilian casualties and inflamed tensions between the two countries.

美國在巴基斯坦也使用無人機進行了數(shù)百次空中打擊,，這讓人開始重新思考空戰(zhàn)的本質(zhì)特征,。這些空中打擊導致了巴基斯坦的平民傷亡,，美巴兩國關(guān)系緊張。

That tension escalated on Saturday as Pakistani officials accused NATO of killing more than 20 soldiers at an outpost near the Afghan border. In response, Islamabad shut down one of the key supply roots for U.S. troops into Afghanistan and demanded that the U.S. close an air base used by the CIA for drone strikes.

在本周六（2011年11月26日,，譯者注）,，巴基斯坦官方指責北約的空中打擊殺害了一個巴基斯坦靠近阿富汗的邊界哨所的二十名軍人。作為回應,，伊斯蘭堡關(guān)閉了一條巴基斯坦境內(nèi)美軍向阿富汗輸送物資的公路,，并要求美國關(guān)閉住巴基斯坦的空軍基地,，美國中央情報局正是利用該基地執(zhí)行無人機空中打擊任務,。

"Engaging in combat and people being at risk have always been together until now," Singer says. "The technology allows you to disentangle them, and now a new age of war has started."

彼得·辛格說：“在此之前，只要發(fā)生戰(zhàn)爭,，總有人處在危險之中,；現(xiàn)在，技術(shù)的進步讓美國軍人可以處在危險之外,，新時代的戰(zhàn)爭已經(jīng)開始,。”

The big question is how much more automated war will become. Singer says there are dozens of other countries at different stages of developing their own drone technology. Will there be a time when air-to-air combat is fully automated?

現(xiàn)在最大的問題是自動化的戰(zhàn)爭何時開始,。彼得·辛格表示現(xiàn)在有數(shù)十個國家正在研發(fā)自己的無人機,，這些國家的研發(fā)進展各不相同。在未來,，無人機之間的全自動化的戰(zhàn)爭會發(fā)生嗎,？

"I can definitely see some of the more mundane aspects of flight being autonomous," Poss says. That could mean landing and taking off, aerial refueling, flying to and from a certain target.

彼得·辛格說：“我看到了無人機在飛行時很多事情是自動完成的，包括起飛,、降落,、空中加油及在目標上空盤旋?！?B style="BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%" class="label bg2" jQuery1322468724092="97">

"But I always see a human making that final call on whether or not that is a legitimate target," he says. "And I certainly always see a human making that final call on whether or not to release a weapon on that target."

彼得·辛格說：“但最終決定該目標是否是合法打擊目標的是人,，同樣，做出是否對該目標進行打擊的決定的也是人,?！?/P>