英語(yǔ)資源頻道為大家整理的china daily 雙語(yǔ)新聞：最后一代有人駕駛戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)，供大家閱讀參考。
It is the most expensive military project ever. It is plagued by delays and menaced by budget cuts. Will the F-35 survive?
作為有史以來(lái)造價(jià)的軍事項(xiàng)目，一再被推遲并飽受預(yù)算削減威脅的F-35戰(zhàn)機(jī)會(huì)有一線生機(jī)嗎？
LEON PANETTA is under no illusions about what Barack Obama moved him from the CIA to the Pentagon to do. The wily Mr Panetta, who took over from Robert Gates as defence secretary at the beginning of the month, is everyone’s idea of a safe pair of hands. But his greatest claim to fame (other than presiding over the plan to kill Osama bin Laden) is as the director of the Office of Management and Budget who paved the way to the balanced budget of 1998. Mr Panetta has inherited from his predecessor the outlines of a plan to reduce military spending by $400 billion by 2023. But America’s fiscal crisis (and the lack of any political consensus about how tackle it) makes it almost certain that Mr Panetta will have to cut further and faster than Mr Gates would have wished.
對(duì)于奧巴馬將自己從中情局調(diào)往五角大樓的意圖，萊昂??帕內(nèi)塔可謂心知肚明。月初剛剛接替羅伯特??蓋茨成為國(guó)防部長(zhǎng)的帕內(nèi)塔為人老練，是個(gè)公認(rèn)的值得信賴之人。帕內(nèi)塔最露臉的一次（竟然不是主導(dǎo)刺殺本拉登的那次行動(dòng)）是在擔(dān)任管理和預(yù)算辦公室主任期間領(lǐng)導(dǎo)有方，實(shí)現(xiàn)了1998年度財(cái)政收支平衡。帕內(nèi)塔將繼續(xù)實(shí)施其前任的計(jì)劃，即到2023年削減4000億美元的軍費(fèi)開(kāi)支，但由于美國(guó)當(dāng)前的財(cái)政危機(jī)（以及缺乏如何解決該危機(jī)的政治共識(shí)），帕內(nèi)塔幾乎肯定會(huì)用比蓋茨原計(jì)劃更有過(guò)之而無(wú)不及的力度和速度來(lái)削減軍費(fèi)。
That could be bad news for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive military-industrial programme in history, and its lead contractor, Lockheed Martin. The plane is expected to come into service six years late (in 2016) and wildly over-budget. The Pentagon still plans to buy 2,443 F-35s over the next 25 years, at a cost of $382 billion. But in a parting shot, Mr Gates gave warning that although he did not think the F-35 faced cancellation, “the size of the buy” might have to be cut.
這對(duì)于F-35聯(lián)合作戰(zhàn)戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)及其首席承包商Lockheed Martin來(lái)說(shuō)可是個(gè)壞消息，F(xiàn)-35是歷耗資最多的軍工項(xiàng)目。F-35開(kāi)始服役的時(shí)間預(yù)計(jì)比原計(jì)劃推遲6年之久（到2016年），且已經(jīng)嚴(yán)重超出預(yù)算。五角大樓仍準(zhǔn)備在未來(lái)25年內(nèi)購(gòu)買2443架F-35戰(zhàn)機(jī)，總價(jià)達(dá)到3820億美元。然而蓋茨在離任時(shí)警告說(shuō)，雖然他認(rèn)為購(gòu)買F-35一事雖不至于徹底沒(méi)戲，但“采購(gòu)規(guī)?！币苍S不得不縮小。
After beating a Boeing design that was deemed technically riskier, Lockheed Martin signed the contract with the Department of Defence to develop the F-35 in 2001. It was an ambitious undertaking. The aim was to reap huge efficiency gains by replacing nearly all of America’s ageing tactical aircraft (the air force’s F-16s and A-10s; the navy’s A/F-18s and the marines’ AV8B jump jets) with three variants of one basic design. There would be a conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) version for the air force, a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) version for the marines and a beefier carrier version for the navy.
在擊敗了技術(shù)上風(fēng)險(xiǎn)較大的波音公司的設(shè)計(jì)方案后，Lockheed Martin在2001年與美國(guó)國(guó)防部簽署了研發(fā)F-35的合同。這是一項(xiàng)野心勃勃的計(jì)劃，其目標(biāo)是用基于相同設(shè)計(jì)原理的三種版本的F-35取代美國(guó)所有已經(jīng)老化的戰(zhàn)術(shù)飛機(jī)（包括空軍的F-16和A-10戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)；海軍的A/F-18戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)及海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊(duì)的AV8B噴氣式飛機(jī)），從而大大提高作戰(zhàn)效率?？哲妼⑴鋫湟猿Ｒ?guī)方式起降的戰(zhàn)機(jī)版本（CTOL），海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊(duì)將裝備短距離起飛和垂直降落版戰(zhàn)機(jī)，而海軍配備的是加大型運(yùn)輸機(jī)版本。
With radar-beating stealth capability and a suite of advanced software and sensors, the F-35 would be a “fifth generation” fighter, far more effective in both its primary ground-attack role and air defence than “l(fā)egacy” aircraft. (Respectively eight times and four times better, say Lockheed Martin executives, though by what measure is anyone’s guess.)
F-35具有躲避雷達(dá)跟蹤的功能，并配有一套先進(jìn)的軟件和感應(yīng)裝置，它將成為“第五代戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)”，無(wú)論是主要的地面打擊能力還是空中防御能力，F(xiàn)-35的效率都要遠(yuǎn)高于“l(fā)eagcy”戰(zhàn)機(jī)。（據(jù)Lockheed Martin公司的管理層說(shuō)，F(xiàn)-35在這兩方面的性能分別提升了八倍和四倍，盡管大家都不清楚這個(gè)結(jié)論是基于什么標(biāo)準(zhǔn)得出的）。
Burning banknotes
燒錢
Above all, the F-35 was meant to be affordable. Development costs would be shared across the three versions and with eight foreign partners who were also buying and helping to build the F-35. Manufacturing scale economies were assured because more than 3,000 planes were to be sold—2,443 to Uncle Sam and the rest to his NATO allies. And because 80% of the parts were common to all three versions, maintenance and logistics would be simpler and cheaper. Deliveries of operational aircraft were to begin in 2010.
最重要的是，F(xiàn)-35的價(jià)格并非難以承受。飛機(jī)的研發(fā)費(fèi)用將由三個(gè)版本的戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)共享，另外八個(gè)國(guó)家也會(huì)出資幫助制造和購(gòu)買F-35?？梢源_信的是飛機(jī)將規(guī)模化生產(chǎn)，因?yàn)轱w機(jī)的預(yù)購(gòu)數(shù)量已超過(guò)3000架—美國(guó)2443架，其余的銷往北約盟國(guó)。由于三個(gè)版本的機(jī)型使用的零部件有80%是可以通用的，所以維修和后勤工作會(huì)更加簡(jiǎn)單和便宜。作戰(zhàn)飛機(jī)將于2010年開(kāi)始交付使用。
That was the idea, anyway. The F-35’s critics have long argued that its performance is compromised by having to fulfil too many roles and that an over-complicated design lashed to an over-optimistic schedule was asking for trouble. In the past 18 months, as delays have mounted and costs escalated, even some of the plane’s ardent fans have become alarmed. In 2009 the Pentagon realised that a breach of the Nunn-McCurdy rules on over-budget defence-procurement programmes was inevitable, because costs would exceed the original baseline by more than 50%. An internal report declared: “Affordability is no longer embraced as a core pillar.”
說(shuō)得再好，也僅僅是一些構(gòu)思。F-35項(xiàng)目的反對(duì)者一直認(rèn)為飛機(jī)會(huì)因?yàn)椴坏貌簧砑鏀?shù)職而導(dǎo)致性能大打折扣，而飛機(jī)過(guò)于復(fù)雜的設(shè)計(jì)卻與過(guò)分樂(lè)觀的項(xiàng)目進(jìn)度捆綁在一起，這無(wú)疑于自討苦吃。在過(guò)去18個(gè)月，研發(fā)進(jìn)度屢次滯后，成本又不斷上升，使得一些該項(xiàng)目的狂熱粉絲也不免有所擔(dān)心。2009年，五角大樓意識(shí)到違反Nunn-McCurdy條例（對(duì)超出預(yù)算的國(guó)防采購(gòu)項(xiàng)目起限制作用）在所難免，因?yàn)轫?xiàng)目成本將高出原標(biāo)準(zhǔn)50%多。一份內(nèi)部報(bào)告指出：“成本優(yōu)勢(shì)已經(jīng)不再被視為這個(gè)項(xiàng)目的核心要素。”
Anticipating the breach, in March 2010 Mr Gates restated his support for the F-35, but hit out at “unacceptable delays and cost overruns”. He said he was “fundamentally restructuring” the programme, adding more money and time for development. He also withheld $614m in performance payments to Lockheed Martin, tying its future earnings to specific criteria rather than the subjective ones that he believed had stiffed the taxpayer.
眼看著預(yù)算被超出，蓋茨雖然在2010年3月重申了他對(duì)F-35項(xiàng)目的支持，但卻嚴(yán)厲抨擊“項(xiàng)目進(jìn)度延后，成本超支是不可接受的”。他說(shuō)他要對(duì)項(xiàng)目進(jìn)行徹底重組，向研發(fā)投入更多的資金，給予更寬裕的時(shí)限。同時(shí)，他拒絕向Lockheed Martin公司支付6.14億美元的績(jī)效款，今后將根據(jù)相應(yīng)的具體標(biāo)準(zhǔn)向其付款，在蓋茨看來(lái)，自吹自擂似的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)已經(jīng)讓納稅人花了不少冤枉錢。
In January this year Mr Gates made a series of further announcements which included spending another $4.6 billion on development, slowing down initial production to avoid building aircraft that would later have to be expensively upgraded and putting the marines’ STOVL version on two-year “probation” because of problems with the aircraft’s structure and propulsion system. Condemning the failure to get costs under control, which he blamed partly on the lack of financial discipline in the defence department during George Bush’s presidency and partly on execution failures by Lockheed Martin and its partners, Mr Gates said that “the culture of endless money that has taken hold must be replaced by a culture of restraint”.
今年一月份，蓋茨宣布將要采取一系列更加深入的措施，包括追加46億美元的研發(fā)經(jīng)費(fèi)，放緩飛機(jī)初次投產(chǎn)的進(jìn)度，以避免生產(chǎn)出來(lái)的飛機(jī)日后又要花大價(jià)錢來(lái)改造升級(jí)，并且將配備給海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊(duì)的STOVL版戰(zhàn)機(jī)推遲兩年交付，因?yàn)轱w機(jī)本身的構(gòu)造和推進(jìn)系統(tǒng)還存在問(wèn)題。蓋茨對(duì)成本失控極為不滿，他認(rèn)為一部分原因是布什任內(nèi)的國(guó)防部松散的財(cái)政管理，另一部分原因是Lockheed Martin及其合作伙伴的碌碌無(wú)為。蓋茨說(shuō)“花錢無(wú)度的現(xiàn)象愈演愈烈，必須剎住這種風(fēng)氣，用節(jié)制消費(fèi)的觀念取而代之。
The latest cost estimates from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), published in May to coincide with a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the F-35 programme, were shocking. The average price of each plane in “then-year” dollars had risen from $69m in 2001 to $133m today. Adding in $56.4 billion of development costs, the price rises from $81m to $156m. The GAO report concluded that since 2007 development costs had risen by 26% and the timetable had slipped by five years. Mr Gates’s 2010 restructuring helped. But still, “after more than nine years in development and four in production, the JSF programme has not fully demonstrated that the aircraft design is stable, manufacturing processes are mature and the system is reliable”. Apart from the STOVL version’s problems, the biggest issue was integrating and testing the software that runs the aircraft’s electronics and sensors. At the hearing, Senator John McCain described it as “a train wreck” and accused Lockheed Martin of doing “an abysmal job”.
在參議院軍事委員會(huì)舉行關(guān)于F-35項(xiàng)目聽(tīng)證會(huì)的同時(shí)，聯(lián)邦政府會(huì)計(jì)總署（GAO）發(fā)布了最新的成本評(píng)估報(bào)告，結(jié)果令人震驚。每架飛機(jī)的均價(jià)（按當(dāng)時(shí)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)）已經(jīng)從2001年的6900萬(wàn)美元漲到了現(xiàn)在的1.33億美元。如果將564億美元的研發(fā)費(fèi)用也算進(jìn)去，飛機(jī)的造價(jià)就從8100萬(wàn)美元變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)在的1.56億美元。GAO的報(bào)告顯示，自2007年起，研發(fā)費(fèi)用上升了26%，而時(shí)間也過(guò)去了五年之久。2010年蓋茨的重組計(jì)劃雖有所成效，但“在歷經(jīng)了九年多的研發(fā)，四年多的投產(chǎn)后，JSF項(xiàng)目仍未充分表現(xiàn)出飛機(jī)設(shè)計(jì)的穩(wěn)定性，制造方法的成熟度和系統(tǒng)的可靠性?！背薙TOVL版本存在的問(wèn)題之外，最棘手的事情是整合及測(cè)試控制飛機(jī)電子設(shè)備和傳感裝置的軟件。在聽(tīng)證會(huì)上，參議員John McCain把軟件形容為“就像一輛破火車”，并指責(zé)Lockheed Marting公司干的“太差勁了”。
What horrified the senators most was not the cost of buying F-35s but the cost of operating and supporting them: $1 trillion over the plane’s lifetime. Mr McCain described that estimate as “jaw-dropping”. The Pentagon guesses that it will cost a third more to run the F-35 than the aircraft it is replacing. Ashton Carter, the defence-acquisition chief, calls this “unacceptable and unaffordable”, and vows to trim it. A sceptical Mr McCain says he wants the Pentagon to examine alternatives to the F-35, should Mr Carter not succeed.
讓參議員們最擔(dān)心的還不是購(gòu)買F-35的費(fèi)用，而是運(yùn)行和維護(hù)他們的費(fèi)用：在飛機(jī)的整個(gè)壽命里，各種費(fèi)用會(huì)達(dá)到一萬(wàn)億美元。McCain表示這個(gè)估算出來(lái)的數(shù)字“令人驚愕”。五角大樓猜測(cè)，使用F-35要比使用那些被其取代的飛機(jī)多出三分之一的開(kāi)銷。主管國(guó)防部采購(gòu)事宜的Ashton Carter稱這是“無(wú)法接受而且負(fù)擔(dān)不起的”，并誓要把費(fèi)用降下來(lái)。對(duì)此表示懷疑的McCain說(shuō)，如果Carter不成功的話，他希望五角大樓考慮除F-35以外的其他選擇。
How worried should Lockheed Martin be? The F-35 is the biggest biscuit in its barrel, by far. And it is not only Mr McCain who is seeking to knock a few chocolate chips out of it. The bipartisan fiscal responsibility and reform commission appointed by Mr Obama last year said that not all military aircraft need to be stealthy. It suggested cancelling the STOVL version of the F-35 and cutting the rest of its order by half, while buying cheaper F-16s and F-18s to keep numbers up. If America decided it could live with such a “high-low” mix, foreign customers might follow suit.
Lockheed Martin公司該有多么不安呢？F-35是其目前為止接手的一筆生意，想找機(jī)會(huì)給這單買賣把把脈的不只是McCain一個(gè)人。去年奧巴馬任命的由兩黨共同組建的財(cái)政問(wèn)責(zé)和改革委員會(huì)表示并非所有軍用飛機(jī)都須具有隱身能力，它的建議是取消STOVL版本，并將剩余的F-35訂單減少一半，同時(shí)購(gòu)買價(jià)格較低的F-16和F-18來(lái)保證戰(zhàn)機(jī)的數(shù)量。如果美國(guó)認(rèn)為可以采用這種高低端戰(zhàn)機(jī)混搭的方式，那么國(guó)外的客戶很可能也如此效仿。
The danger for Lockheed Martin is that if orders start to tumble, the F-35 could go into a death spiral. The fewer planes governments order, the more each one will cost and the less attractive the F-35 will be. This happened to the even more sophisticated and expensive F-22. By cutting its order from 750 to 183, the Pentagon helped to drive the programme cost per aircraft of the F-22 up from $149m to $342m.
Lockheed Martin面臨的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)是，如果訂單數(shù)量驟減，F(xiàn)-35可能就一蹶不振了。各國(guó)政府訂購(gòu)的飛機(jī)數(shù)量越少，則每架飛機(jī)的成本就越高，F(xiàn)-35的吸引力就越小。類似情況曾發(fā)生在更先進(jìn)更昂貴的F-22身上。五角大樓將F-22的訂單從750架減少至183架，讓每架飛機(jī)承擔(dān)的項(xiàng)目成本從1.49億美元飆升到了3.42以美元。
Lockheed Martin’s investors doubt this will happen to the F-35: the share price has been remarkably stable over the past two years. Tom Burbage, the executive who helped run the F-22 programme and who has also been in charge of the F-35’s development from the start, is still in charge—evidence that the company thinks he is doing a decent job. Mr Burbage says that a programme as big as the F-35 is bound to attract barbs. The main cause of the delays and cost over-runs, he says, is a problem with the weight of the STOVL version that came to light in 2004. It was impossible to continue work on the other two variants while this was being dealt with, he says. The plane was slimmed by 2,700lb (1,225kg), but this severely disrupted the supply chain that Lockheed Martin had put together with its main partners (BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman). That set the project back by nearly two years. On the bright side, Mr Burbage says that applying a similar diet to the other two variants yielded better planes.
Lockheed Martin公司的投資人不相信F-35會(huì)重蹈覆轍：公司的股價(jià)在過(guò)去兩年異常穩(wěn)定。Tom Burbage是公司的一名高管，曾參與F-22項(xiàng)目的運(yùn)行，也從一開(kāi)始就負(fù)責(zé)F-35的研發(fā)，現(xiàn)在也是如此-這說(shuō)明公司認(rèn)為他干得還不賴。Burbage說(shuō)像F-35這么大的項(xiàng)目肯定會(huì)招來(lái)非議。他說(shuō)進(jìn)度拖延和成本超支的主要原因是STOVL版本戰(zhàn)機(jī)在2004年暴露出了自身重量存在問(wèn)題。據(jù)他稱，在解決這個(gè)問(wèn)題的同時(shí)，不可能再繼續(xù)開(kāi)發(fā)另外兩個(gè)版本的戰(zhàn)機(jī)。飛機(jī)最后減重了2700磅（1.225噸），但卻嚴(yán)重打亂了Lockheed Martin和其主要合作伙伴（BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman）銜接起來(lái)的供應(yīng)鏈，工程因此延后了兩年時(shí)間。凡事也有好的一面，Burbage說(shuō)另外兩個(gè)版本的飛機(jī)實(shí)施相同的瘦身計(jì)劃后變得更好了。
Mr Burbage is also confident that once production at the firm’s mile-long factory in Fort Worth ramps up to 17 aircraft a month, as planned, the more pessimistic unit-cost projections will start to fall. That, however, remains a distant prospect while the design of the aircraft keeps changing.
Burbage相信，公司位于Fort Worth的綿延數(shù)百米的廠房一旦能按計(jì)劃達(dá)到17架/月的產(chǎn)量，對(duì)于單位成本的悲觀論斷就會(huì)開(kāi)始減少。然而，飛機(jī)的設(shè)計(jì)仍然在改來(lái)改去，這種想法只是種遙遠(yuǎn)的啟盼。
Even so, Mr Burbage points out that the fixed-price contract agreed with the Pentagon for 32 aircraft in the fourth production lot (including a 13% margin for Lockheed Martin) is half the price of the first lot of aircraft. Mr Burbage predicts that the average cost of the air force version will eventually be around $65m—about the same as the F-16 sells for today. One reason for the much higher Pentagon forecasts is that the cost is built up to include every contingency, including projecting inflation over the whole production cycle.
即使這樣，Burbage指出公司與五角大樓簽訂的第四批投產(chǎn)的32架飛機(jī)定價(jià)合同（給Lockheed Martin留出了13%的利潤(rùn)空間）中的飛機(jī)報(bào)價(jià)僅為第一批投產(chǎn)飛機(jī)價(jià)格的一半。他預(yù)測(cè)空軍裝備的版本最終的均價(jià)會(huì)在650萬(wàn)美元/架左右-現(xiàn)在F-16的價(jià)格大致相同。五角大樓給出的估價(jià)要高出很多，一個(gè)原因是將所有可能發(fā)生的情況都考慮在內(nèi)了，包括在整個(gè)生產(chǎn)周期內(nèi)的發(fā)生通貨膨脹的可能性。
In other words, the Pentagon and its contractor calculate future costs in completely different ways. That vertigo-inducing $1 trillion figure is so high because it covers such a long period—the government changed its initial cost projections to cover 50 rather than 30 years. It also increased the number of bases the aircraft would be stationed at from 33 to 49.
換言之，五角大樓和它的承包商在用截然不同的方法計(jì)算未來(lái)的費(fèi)用。之所以出現(xiàn)那個(gè)高得令人頭暈的一萬(wàn)億美元，是因?yàn)樗缭降臅r(shí)間相當(dāng)長(zhǎng)-政府把預(yù)測(cè)成本的參考時(shí)間由起初的30年改成了50年，同時(shí)還設(shè)想空軍基地的數(shù)量將由33個(gè)增加到40個(gè)。
Mr Burbage rejects the assumption that the F-35 will cost a third more to sustain than the F-16s and F-18s it is replacing. He says that if you applied the same measures to legacy fighters the cost would be up to $3 trillion. He also remains convinced that the cost-saving ideas that first gave birth to the F-35 remain valid—commonality of spares, quick and easy replacement of components, advanced diagnostics and so on. Together they add up to a plane that will be twice as reliable as its predecessors and require fewer hands to maintain. Yet none of these benefits has been factored in because none has yet been proven.
Burbage并不同意F-35將比被其取代的F-16和F-18多出三分之一費(fèi)用這種假設(shè)。他說(shuō)如果你用同樣的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)衡量legacy戰(zhàn)機(jī)，相關(guān)費(fèi)用將高達(dá)3萬(wàn)億美元。他還確信，節(jié)約成本是制造F-35的初衷，這個(gè)想法仍然靠譜-通用的配件，更換既快捷又簡(jiǎn)單的零部件，以及先進(jìn)的故障診斷系統(tǒng)等等。集這些優(yōu)點(diǎn)于一身的飛機(jī)的可靠性將高出以前的飛機(jī)一倍，而且需要更少的人員去維護(hù)。不過(guò)這些益處因?yàn)樯形吹玫阶C實(shí)，所以都沒(méi)有被考慮進(jìn)去。
Even if Mr Burbage is too sanguine, the F-35 is in no imminent danger. Its position is strengthened by two inarguable propositions. The first is that many of the current generation of fighters are approaching 30 years in service and must soon be replaced. The second is that because the F-35 was designed to replace so many types of aircraft, it has, in effect, a monopolist’s grip on the future fighter market.
即使burbage的看法過(guò)于樂(lè)觀，F(xiàn)-35也沒(méi)有迫在眉睫的危險(xiǎn)。有兩個(gè)無(wú)可爭(zhēng)議的觀點(diǎn)使它的地位反而更加鞏固了。一是多數(shù)老一代的戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)的服役年限已接近30年，必須盡快更新?lián)Q代。二是因?yàn)樵O(shè)計(jì)F-35的目的是為了取代多種型號(hào)的戰(zhàn)機(jī)，它事實(shí)上在未來(lái)的戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)市場(chǎng)上占據(jù)著壟斷地位。
Even if America and some of its NATO allies cut their orders, Lockheed Martin is confident that the numbers will be more than made up by countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. All these nations are rich and nervous of Beijing. Mr Burbage draws comparison with the F-16, of which more than 4,500 will be built over its long life.
即使美國(guó)及其一些北約盟友減少訂單數(shù)量，Lockheed Martin也深信有日本、韓國(guó)、新加坡和臺(tái)灣這些買家，飛機(jī)的銷量只會(huì)多不會(huì)少，因?yàn)檫@些國(guó)家不差錢，對(duì)中國(guó)又頗為忌憚。Burbage將F-16引以為例，該型號(hào)飛機(jī)一共將出廠4500多架，可謂經(jīng)久不衰。
The future belongs to the drones
未來(lái)屬于無(wú)人戰(zhàn)機(jī)
But the longer-term outlook for the F-35 is uncertain. Its costly capabilities are intended to make it effective against the air defences of a sophisticated enemy, such as China. But the growing vulnerability of American aircraft carriers to Chinese missiles will mean operating from well beyond the F-35’s 600-mile (1,000km) range.
然而F-35的長(zhǎng)期前景還不明朗。F-35不惜重金打造作戰(zhàn)性能的目的是讓飛機(jī)在對(duì)付像中國(guó)這樣老辣的敵人時(shí)能夠大顯身手，但是在中國(guó)導(dǎo)彈面前，美國(guó)的航空母艦越來(lái)越不堪一擊，這意味著航母必須保持與攻擊目標(biāo)間的距離，其長(zhǎng)度遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)F-35戰(zhàn)機(jī)600英里（1000公里）的可持續(xù)飛行距離。
Some military strategists already think that the job the F-35 is meant to do can be better handled by cruise missiles and remotely piloted drones. In many roles, unmanned planes are more efficient: they carry neither a bulky pilot nor the kit that keeps him alive, which means they can both turn faster and be stealthier. And if they are shot down, no one dies. Even the F-35’s champions concede that it will probably be the last manned strike fighter aircraft the West will build.
一些軍事戰(zhàn)略家認(rèn)為F-35所從事的任務(wù)可以由巡航導(dǎo)彈和遠(yuǎn)程控制無(wú)人機(jī)更好地完成。在許多情況下，無(wú)人機(jī)的效率更高：他們既不用攜帶大塊頭的飛行員，也不用安裝維持飛行員生命的儀器，也就是說(shuō)他們的飛行速度更快，隱身能力更強(qiáng)。如果被擊落，也沒(méi)有人員傷亡。即使是F-35的支持者也承認(rèn)它可能會(huì)是西方國(guó)家生產(chǎn)的最后一代有人駕駛戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)了。