无人机未来发展方向：隐形、迷你、杀伤力强及全球部署

译者：susanyao

Today's unmanned robotic planes onlyseemadvanced. A decade after the CIA and the Air Force tucked a Hellfire missile under the wing of a Predator drone, much hasn't actually changed: pilots in air-conditioned boxes remotely control much of the armed drone fleet; the robo-planes are easy for an enemy to spot; the weapons they fire weigh about the same; as much as they love the skies, they take refuge on dry land; and they're built around traditional airframes like planes and helicopters. Yawn.

无人驾驶飞机看起来高科技成分很高。中央情报局和空军将地狱火导弹架设计到无人驾驶飞机的机翼下后，10年间，没有实质变化：宇航员在空调房内远程超控没有变；容易被敌方定位没有变；武器的重量没有变；热衷于翱翔天际，确不得不在地上着陆的事实没有变；和其它的民用飞机和直升飞机一样的传统的框架结构也没有变。真的吗？

All this is starting to change. Drones are moving out to sea -- above itandbelow it. They're growing increasingly autonomous, no longer reliant on a pilot with a joystick staring at video feeds from their cameras. They're getting stealthier; the payloads they carry are changing; and they're going global. They're pushing humans out of the gondolas of blimps. And the laboratories of the drones of the future aren't only owned by American defense contractors, they're in Israel and China and elsewhere, too.

数十年不变的情况马上就不复存在。无人驾驶飞机未来发展将向海洋进发，无论水上、水下。更加智能，不再完全依靠宇航员根据飞机上的摄像头反馈回来的图像，方可进行操作。这些飞机具备隐形的功能，悄无声息；荷载武器杀伤力也变大；航行里程将遍及全球。完全无人驾驶。除了美国，还有中国和以色列及其它地区积极参与无人驾驶飞机项目。

Of course, there are other advancements as well: new model drones fly longer and wield better cameras. But those are routine improvements, like your smartphone rolling out upgrades to its operating system. Here's a look at the more ambitious ways drones are getting re-imagined. Northrop Grumman X-47B

好处极多：新型无人驾驶飞机飞行时间更长，摄像头更为高端。但这如同智能手机操作系统升级一样，吧并非实质性的改变。这里列出极富创新性的关于无人驾驶飞机未来发展趋势。格鲁昂公司X-47B。

The U.S. Navy is at the forefront of drone development. Its most ambitious project is to land a robotic plane on an aircraft carrier with minimal human involvement. It's among aviation's hardest maneuvers, one that no current drone on Planet Earth can execute. Next year, the Navy will program its X-47B -- a batwing-shaped robot -- to land on the deck of theU.S.S. George Washingtonoff the coast of Maryland to see if it can be done. All with a click of a mouse.

美国海军的无人驾驶飞机最为先进。最野心勃勃的项目就是将无人驾驶飞机和航空母舰结合起来，有效减少了人力的使用。“行星地球”空军军演时，执行任务的都是无人驾驶飞机。明年，海军计划使其X-47B，蝙蝠型战斗机，到美国华盛顿的马里兰海滩着陆，看其是否能完成任务。操作简便，点击一下鼠标即可。

If the X-47B can pull this off, it'll be a sea change (pardon the pun). The X-47B is a demonstration model, not the Navy's carrier-based drone of the future. By 2018, the Navy hopes, a successful X-47B will yield to the UCLASS program, for Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike System. The name is actually pretty descriptive: If it works as planned -- again, a big if -- the Navy will have robotic eyes in the sky way out into blue waters, capable of spying on suspicious maritime behavior and attacking targets they spot. The effort ranks as one of the most significant in the history of drones.

如果X-47B上述这些功能得以实现，那将是天翻地覆的变化(双关，还指海洋和陆地均适用)。X-47B仅仅是一个示范而已，是尚不能完全实现从航空母舰起飞的未来方向。2018年，开始部署基于航母的无人空中监视和打击(Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike, UCLASS)系统。机如其名：按图纸设计，海军用无人驾驶飞机内设的机器眼，从空中直接进入深海，追踪可疑潜艇，实现定点攻击。这将是无人驾驶飞机发展史上意义最为深远的一次变革。

Already, the X47B can refuel in mid-air, giving it a long, long seaborne flight time. Oh, and it looks like an alien spaceship. No big deal.

X47B实现了在空中补给燃料，保证了海上长时间飞行成为可能。外形没什么大不了，酷似外形宇宙飞船。

Photo: Jared Soares/Wired.com

图片：杰瑞德.苏亚雷斯/连线

AeroVironment's Switchblade

航空环境公司新产品---弹簧折刀

For all the upgrades drones are set to receive, U.S. military officials swear there's one unyielding constant: A human being, inside a chain of command, will always make the decision to use a drone's lethal force. The Switchblade doesn't exactly violate that rule. But it pushes drone warfare closer to the boundary.

美国军方发言人表示美国无人飞机的使用原则是：军令下，人人有权使用杀伤性武器。无人驾驶飞机弹簧折刀也没有违背这一原则，并迎来了无人驾驶飞机参与战争时代。

Already heading to Afghanistan for commando usage, the tiny Switchblade folds up into a backpack; gets fired through a tube; and a soldier using a laptop sends it on a one-way mission onto a target. Count the innovations there: Most tiny drones are spies instead of killers; and the Switchblade doesn't fire a missile, itisthe missile. But there's a third, and more profound, change. The drone can be pre-programmed to hit a set of coordinates, making it an "autonomous platform" that manufacturer AeroVironment likes to boast about. True, a human being still sets those coordinates. But the small Switchblade moves drone warfare a step closer to an era when the robots decide who lives and who dies.

阿富汗的突击队已经使用了这种小型弹簧折刀，将其折叠并安放在背包内；用一个炮筒点火；通过手提电脑进行设置，执行单程袭击任务。创新之处有：多数的小型无人飞机是用于侦察而不是杀戮；弹簧折刀不能携带导弹，由于其本身就是导弹。还有一点，也是最重要的变化，如其制造商美国航空环境公司所吹嘘的那样，可以设置横竖坐标，从而实现“自主定位”。需要人为设置参数。小型弹簧折刀的出现，进一步拉开了无人驾驶飞机参与战争的序幕，即生死攸关。

Photo: AeroVironment

图片：航空环境公司

Long-Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle

长航时多情报飞行器

Another example of how the drones of the future won't necessarily be airplanes or helicopters. The U.S. Army is working on a spy blimp the size of a football field. Pilot not necessarily included.

另外一个无人驾驶飞机的未来发展趋势则脱离了飞机和直升飞机。美国军队致力于开发间谍飞艇，约有一个足球场地那么大。完全无人驾驶。

Much of the hype around Northrop Grumman's Long-Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle, or LEMV, concerns the novelty of a giant blimp capable of hauling a heretofore unimaginable bank of cameras in its gondola. Less attention has gone to the mega-blimp's intended ability to flip into autonomous mode. Which makes sense, when considering the airship's other capabilities: If it works correctly, it should be able to stay aloft for weeks at a time. Does it really make sense to keep a human being in the lighter-than-air ship, complete with all the physiological frailties that would necessitate dropping the blimp down onto the ground? The Army is starting to consider those questions: Earlier this month, it brought the blimp over New Jersey for its first test flight; and next year it's supposed to deploy to Afghanistan.

诺思罗普·格鲁曼公司(Northrop Grumman)的长航时多情报飞行器(简称为:LEMV)主要卖点就是巨大的飞艇，货舱内设有硕大的摄像系统。自动模式下，该巨型飞艇很难被发现。该飞艇使用正确方法得当，每次至少在空中飘浮数周。如果人在飞艇上，受生理因数制约，无法实现数周停留在空中。军方考虑到了这些问题：本月初，首次在新泽西州上空试飞该飞艇，计划明年应用到阿富汗部署之中。

Image: Northrop Grumman

图片：诺思罗普·格鲁曼公司

Raytheon's Small Tactical Munition

雷声公司的小型战术炸弹

Yes, it's true: The Small Tactical Munition is not a drone. But it still has important implications for drone warfare.

是的，实际上，小型战术炸弹并不是无人驾驶飞机，可应用到战时的无人驾驶飞机上，将起到巨大作用。

The weapon of choice for the U.S. drone arsenal is the Hellfire missile. The Hellfires, unleashed on countless terrorism suspects over the last decade, weigh about 100 pounds. That's a problem: It cuts against the trend of miniaturization that is all the rage in drone circles. Enter the Small Tactical Munition: a bomb weighing just 13 pounds designed to turn the Army's 12-pound Shadow spy drone into a killer. Raytheon has been developing the Small Tactical Munition for years, but now thinks the bomb could be ready to field within months. Not much good for a drone that's supposed to, say, look like a hummingbird. But it's probably just the first in mini-weapons for drones.

美国无人驾驶战机兵工厂选择的武器是“地狱之火导弹”。该导弹在过去的10年内，击毙了无数恐怖嫌犯，重约100磅(45.4kg)。问题就出在重量上：这与无人驾驶飞机迷你化的趋势格格不入。至于小型战术炸弹：重量仅为13磅(5.9kg)，使用后，军方的12磅(5.4kg)重的“幽灵侦察机”同时也可称为“歼击机”。雷声公司的小型战术炸弹研发经历了数年，据悉，数月内将投入使用。没有比它更适合无人驾驶战斗机的了，体积就像蜂鸟一样小。同时也拉开了无人驾驶飞机上使用迷你武器的序幕。

Photo: Raytheon

图片：雷声公司

Israel Aerospace Industries' Robo-Butterfly

以色列航宇工业公司的机器“蝴蝶”

It makes sense that Israel would be on the bleeding edge of drone technology. Not only are its spy apparatus and tech sectors among the world's elite, Israel has a long, long history with unmanned aircraft. The Israel Defense Forces' first drone unit formed in 1971, to aid with reconnaissance. Now it's joining the U.S. military in developing tiny, tiny drones that look like bugs -- with one huge difference.

毋庸置疑，以色列的无人驾驶战斗机技术走在世界前沿。间谍设备和技术层面均居世界领先行列，并且在无人驾驶战斗机方面，研究历史由来已久。以研究考察为目的的以色列国防部队 成立于1971年。现在与美国军队一起开发虫子大小的微型无人驾驶飞机。

In May,Israel Hayomreported on the Butterfly, a robot weighing a mere 20 grams and designed to look like the eponymous insect, except packed with listening devices and tiny video cameras. Not altogether dissimilar from the U.S. Air Force's "micro-aviary" of insect- and bird-like unmanned aircraft. But Israel Aerospace Industries' mini-drone adds something unexpected: a helmet that gives an operator Butterfly vision. "When you put this on you are actually inside the butterfly's cockpit," enthused the company's mini-robotics chief Dubi Binyamini. "You see what the butterfly sees. You can fly at any altitude and distance and see everything in real time." In the States, drone operators merely watch their robotic aircraft's video feed, with no attempt at anything approaching a sensory meld.

5月，Hayom报道了仿生学重为20g的机器蝴蝶，除了身上配有监听设备及视频录制设备外，就像是一直真正的昆虫。这也与美国空军的“昆虫微型飞机”及“小鸟大小的无人驾驶飞机”似乎不谋而合。以色列航宇工业公司的设计的独到之处在于：通过一个钢盔，操作员可以见到蝴蝶的所见。“戴上钢盔，就相当于你坐在机器蝴蝶座舱内，”该公司的迷你机器负责人Dubi Binyamini热情地给大家讲解。“无论这只机器蝴蝶飞多高多远，都可以实时播放。” 在美国，无人驾驶飞机的飞行员们将不用亲临现场，仅仅需要查看视频录像即可。

Photo: Israelhayom.co.il

图片： Israelhayom.co.il

Dark Sword

暗剑

If you had to guess what this Chinese drone's specialty is -- and you do, because China's government has cloaked it in secrecy -- it's probably stealth. The elongated, sharp angles of the Dark Sword are reminiscent of a stretched-out mashup of a Stealth Bomber and a Joint Strike Fighter. Designs for Dark Sword have been floating around for years, and Flight International has dubbed it an "amalgam of concepts" -- to include, potentially, being a rare unmanned dogfighter.

这架来自中国的无人驾驶飞机极其令人神往，由于军事机密方面的原因，对其专长并非十分清楚。这架加长款，尖头“暗剑”融合了隐形轰炸机及联合攻击战斗机等诸多因素。该设计诞生多年，迟迟没有投入使用，被国际航空命名为“汞概念飞机”，即极其罕见的近距离打击无人驾驶飞机。

China isn't new to drones. It's got the the Soaring Dragon, a surveillance drone that looks eerily reminiscent of a U.S. Air Force Global Hawk. But a stealthy drone is a next step up for China's unmanned capabilities. The Dark Sword may not be the only Chinese stealth drone, either. Late in 2011, pictures of the so-called Wind Blade -- a stealthy, blended-wing design drone -- started surfacing on the internet.

中国对于无人驾驶飞机领域并不陌生。如：“腾龙号”就是外形与美国“全球鹰”极其类似的无人驾驶侦察机。中国无人驾驶飞机下一步的研究方向可能是隐形飞机。“黑暗之剑”仅仅是众多中国开发的隐形飞机中的一种。2011年底，网络上流传的“风之痕”，就是一款隐形，翼身融合无人驾驶飞机。

Photo: Pakistan Defence Forum

图片：巴基斯坦防务论坛

Boeing's Phantom Ray

波音公司的“幻影射线”

This Boeing stealth drone has survived a near-death experience. Like its rival the X-47B, it's a demonstrator craft; and like the X-47B, its batwing shape indicates that it's designed to evade radar. Unlike the X-47B, however, the U.S. military got cold feet: In 2006, it told Boeing that it wasn't interested in paying for the project anymore. Rather than junk Phantom Ray, Boeing opted to fund the project itself, and last April, the Phantom Ray took off on its maiden flight in St. Louis. And since the Navy hasn't picked a design for the UCLASS project that comes after the X-47B, it's possible that the Phantom Ray will eventually overtake its robotic adversary.

这款波音公司开发的无人驾驶飞机可以说是九死一生。和X-47B飞机类似，都是试验机型，同为蝙蝠形状，可以传送雷达信号。不同的是,与幸运的X-47B不同，没有得到美国军方认可：2006年，美国军方告知波音公司，将不会就该项目继续投资。但是波音公司并未将“幻影射线”设计束之高阁，而是自行出资继续研究，去年4月，在圣路易斯，“幻影射线”首次航行成功。由于美国军方在X-47B后，尚未给无人舰载空中监视和攻击系统纳入新成员，故此，“幻影射线”击败对手还有一线希望。

Photo: Boeing

图片：波音公司

General Atomics' Sea Avenger

通用原子航空系统公司“海上复仇者”

Take one part Predator and one part UCLASS and you've got the Sea Avenger. In short, the project is a next-gen Predator that can land on an aircraft carrier. Or so manufacturer General Atomics desires.

融合了终极战士的元素及无人空中监视及打击的元素，总之，该项目代表了终极战士下一步趋势，可以随意在航空母舰上着陆，同时也寄托了来自其制造商通用原子航空系统公司的宏图伟愿。

The Avenger is the third phase of the iconic armed Predator drone, following the Reaper. In 2010, the Air Force had reached the end of its intended purchases of Preds and moved toward buying Avengers. And for good reason: Avengers are way,wayfaster, capable of going beyond 400 knots, making it three times as fast as a Pred and 50 percent faster than a Reaper. The sleeker design also turns the drone stealthy.

“复仇者”是继“终极战士”之后，第三代武装无人驾驶飞机。2010年，空军成功购进Preds，之后计划购买“复仇者”。原因如下：复仇者行驶路径远远大于Preds，航程可以高达400海里，速度比Pred快3倍，比“终极战士”快两倍。磨光器的设计使飞机具有隐形的特性。

So General Atomics tweaked its Avenger design to yield the Sea Avenger. (Hold your Sub-Mariner jokes.) The idea is to add the "flexibility" to accommodate "carrier suitable landing gear, tail hook, drag devices, and other provisions for carrier operations." Translated from the contractor-ese, that means General Atomics is hoping that when X-47B gives way to UCLASS, the Navy will go with the iconic brand in the killer-drone field.

通用原子航空系统公司将复仇者的设计升级为“海上复仇者。”(先不要想深海人的笑话。) 该理念融合了合适的起落架，尾沟，增阻装置及其它适合驾驶操控的装饰。这种完全基于合同要求而进行的改进，意味着通用原子航空系统公司寄希望于当X-47B一旦无法进入“无人空中监视及打击系统”，至少在无人歼击机领域，还有海军撑腰。

Image: General Atomics

图片:通用原子航空系统公司

BAE Systems' Taranis

英国航宇系统公司

Stealth drones aren't only for the Americans and the Chinese. BAE Systems is working on Europe's first stealth robo-killer, the Taranis. Only the drone hasn't had a smooth upward ascent.

并非仅有美国及中国掌握了无人驾驶飞机技术。英国航宇系统公司正致力于开发欧洲首架隐形机器杀手，名为“塔拉尼斯”。只是飞机平稳上升的技术难题尚未突破。

Named for the Celtic thunder god, BAE first rolled out the Taranis in 2010, complete with a Hollywood-style presentation. Yet trial flights, originally scheduled for last year, have been pushed back repeatedly, and now the hope is to get the Taranis aloft in 2013. There isn't yet much to show for the £143 million -- around $220 million -- spent developing the prototype, aside from the occasional mistaken UFO sighting. But if European budgetary austerity doesn't ground the Taranis before it leaves the tarmac, the Taranis' ability to evade radar could help wean allied militaries off their dependency on American airpower.

改名字源于凯尔特语，为“雷神”之意，英国航宇系统公司2010年首次推出“塔拉尼斯”，宣讲仪式是典型的好莱坞风格。原定于去年的首次航行被一再延期，现在公布说希望在2013年得以升空。当然，除了看起来很像是看到“UFO”外，花巨资1。43亿欧元-2.2亿欧元打造的飞机看点不是很多。当然，如果

Photo: BAE Systems

图片：英国航宇系统公司

Mikoyan Skat

米高扬.斯卡特

Russia isn't so great with drones. Sure, it's buying spy robots from Israel, but its own fleet of homebrewed armed drones won't be ready for another 20 years. That leaves the Russian government with smaller drones -- the better to spy on street protests -- and not a whole lot besides. Except for the Skat.

俄国无人驾驶飞机领域发展缓慢。尽管从以色列采购了侦查机器人，但是该国自有的无人驾驶飞机空中舰队历时20年尚未成型。俄罗斯仅仅开发了一些小型用于监控街道上是否有示威游行人群之用，而且数量也不多。但是斯卡特是个例外。

Translating to "Manta Ray," the Skat is a stealthy drone that can carry up to two tons of weapons in its bays, and fly at nearly 500 miles per hour at a low altitude. Mockups and displays of the Skat have been on display for at least five years, but the drone remains in development. It might not take 20 years to field, but it highlights how far the once-mighty Russians have to go to capitalize on the drone revolution.

斯卡特在俄文中的含义是“魔鬼鱼”，机舱内最多可承载2吨武器，在低纬度，最快速度可达到500英里/小时。虽然斯卡特的模型机相关展览持续了有5年以上，但是无人驾驶飞机领域发展的脚步从未停止。虽然时间长些，有20年，但是这也让我们看到了曾经是最强大的俄罗斯为了自己的无人飞机方案如何募集资金的。

Photo: Wikimedia

图片：维基图片

DRDO Rustom 1

国防研究于开发组织的“斯鲁特姆”

Rising global power India doesn't intend to get left out of the drone revolution. After buying Israeli models for years, its Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is starting to homebrew its own. Three different models of killer flying 'bots are in the works: the Rustom 1, the Rustom H and the Rustom 2. (The Rustom 1 had its maiden flight in 2009; the other two are still being developed.) These drones clearly don't have the capabilities of the American next-gens -- they're slower, not autonomous, and won't be stealthy. And they wear their influences on their sleeves: The most ambitious model, the Rustom H, seems like a knock-off of the iconic Predator. Still, the arrival of India's drone sector helps underscore how drone tech has cemented itself as a status symbol for rising powers.

随着其它国家军事力量的强大，尤其是在无人驾驶飞机方面，印度不敢居于人后。数年前，从以色列购买了飞机，开始了仿制，并有国防研究于发展组织实现飞机本土化。在这些工厂内，开发了3中完全不同的歼击机，“斯鲁特姆1号”，“斯鲁特姆H号”及“斯鲁特姆2号”等等(斯鲁特姆1号于2009年首航成功；另外两款飞机还在研究中。)尽管远远落后于美国新一代飞机，速度不快，没有自动，不能隐形。尤其醒目的就是硕大的套筒：斯鲁特姆H号设计最具想象力，看起来很像是终极战士被撞掉了翅膀。印度无人驾驶飞机领域的发展表明了无人驾驶飞机时代的到来，未来发展潜力无限。

Photo: Wikimedia

图片：维基媒体

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• 原文来源：wired.com
• 原文标题：无人机下一阶段的发展：隐秘、小巧、致命、全球部署
• 原文地址：http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/08/next-g
• 转自：http://select.yeeyan.org/view/311271/311520