So you are someone who takes defence policy seriously. every so often you are outraged at the waste of scarce funding on acquisitions that do little for national security but, rather, lavishly feed some political constituency, an industry or the egos of military officers.

如果你是一個(gè)認(rèn)真關(guān)心國(guó)防政策的人。那么你時(shí)常會(huì)對(duì)國(guó)家僅有的一點(diǎn)資金,被浪費(fèi)在無(wú)用的軍事采購(gòu)項(xiàng)目上感到憤怒,而這些采購(gòu)項(xiàng)目只為滿足了一些政治選民、一個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)或軍官的自尊心。

Just be thankful you’re not South Korean.
For there is a country that daily faces a risk of cataclysmic war: invasion by an army of more than 1 million, mass artillery bombardment of its capital and even nuclear attack. And its latest proposed acquisition? An aircraft carrier—a meaningless hole in the water into which the Republic of Korea Navy hopes the country will pour about US$5 billion.

如果你真的這樣想,那么謝天謝地,你不是韓國(guó)人。
韓國(guó)這個(gè)國(guó)家每天都面臨著爆發(fā)災(zāi)難性戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的風(fēng)險(xiǎn):比如北邊100多萬(wàn)軍隊(duì)的入侵、首都遭遇大規(guī)模炮擊,甚至可能遭受核武器打擊。
而這個(gè)國(guó)家最新的軍事采購(gòu)計(jì)劃是什么呢?答:一艘航空母艦。韓國(guó)海軍希望把50億美元,扔進(jìn)一個(gè)毫無(wú)意義的水坑里。

the US , paying several billions of dollars a year to protect South Korea from North Korea while officials and industrialists in Seoul divert domestic funds to national vanity projects.

美國(guó)每年花費(fèi)數(shù)十億美元保護(hù)韓國(guó)免受朝鮮的威脅,而韓國(guó)的官員和相關(guān)產(chǎn)業(yè)則將國(guó)內(nèi)資金投入面子工程。
原創(chuàng)翻譯:龍騰網(wǎng) http://nxnpts.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處


The navy’s main justification for building an aircraft carrier is to make naval operations independent of air support from the land when fighting unnamed current and future threats. The defence ministry is calling the ship ‘CVX’ (previously, ‘LPX-II’). It would be equipped with Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightnings, capable of short take-off and vertical landing.

韓國(guó)國(guó)防部稱這艘航母為“CVX”(以前叫“LPX-II”)。它將搭載美國(guó)洛克希德·馬丁公司(能夠短距起飛和垂直降落)的F-35B戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)。
一般來(lái)講,海軍建造航空母艦的主要目的,是在對(duì)抗當(dāng)前和未來(lái)威脅時(shí),海軍可以獲得/提供獨(dú)立于陸地的空中支援。

For war with North Korea, the justification is nonsense, because the Korean peninsula is so small that land-based fighters can indeed cover the navy’s ships, especially with tanker support. Also, all North Korean targets are in fighter strike range of South Korean air bases, so a costly mobile base at sea is unnecessary.

而韓國(guó)給出的航母建造理由純屬無(wú)稽之談,因?yàn)槌r半島如此之小,陸基戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)可以為海軍軍艦提供保護(hù),尤其是在有加油機(jī)支持的情況下。
此外,所有朝鮮軍事目標(biāo)都在韓國(guó)空軍戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)的打擊范圍內(nèi),因此沒有必要建立成本高昂的海上移動(dòng)基地。

If the unnamed future threat is China or Japan, then building CVX makes even less sense, because it would be so vulnerable to attack by land-based missiles, aircraft and submarines.

如果韓國(guó)將中國(guó)或日本當(dāng)作未來(lái)的威脅,那么建造航母就更沒有意義了,因?yàn)樗菀资艿疥懟鶎?dǎo)彈、飛機(jī)和潛艇的攻擊。

The real, childish reasons for South Korea buying an aircraft carrier are all too plain. One is that naval officers love big ships and are especially proud of aircraft carriers. The other is a persistent factor familiar to every observer of South Korean technology and defence programs: a desire to match or outdo Japan.

所以,韓國(guó)建造航空母艦的真實(shí)原因簡(jiǎn)單而又幼稚。其一,是韓國(guó)海軍軍官們喜歡大型艦船,尤其以航空母艦為傲。其二,就是每個(gè)觀察韓國(guó)國(guó)防發(fā)展的人都懂的那個(gè)原因:即韓國(guó)一直渴望趕上或超過(guò)日本。

The push to build this ship strengthened immediately after 2017 news reports, since confirmed, that Japan would adapt two helicopter carriers to operate F-35Bs. (Japan also has plenty of costly and doubtfully justifiable indigenous programs, but the inexpensive adaptation of the helicopter carriers is not one of them. And Japan has a reason for taking F-35Bs to sea: air defence over the Pacific.)

在2017年新聞報(bào)道證實(shí)日本將部署兩艘搭載F35B戰(zhàn)機(jī)的直升機(jī)航母后,韓國(guó)也加快了推動(dòng)建造國(guó)產(chǎn)航母的步伐。(日本有大量成本高昂,且目的可疑的本土軍事建造計(jì)劃,但廉價(jià)的直升機(jī)航母改裝不是其中之一。日本采用直升機(jī)航母+F35B的組合:只是為了加強(qiáng)太平洋上空的防空力量。)

Acquisition would cost about 2.03 trillion won (A$2.3 billion), the ministry says. The figure doesn’t include paying for the required 20 F-35Bs, which the air force would reportedly operate at sea. The ship would need helicopters, too, so the total cost would be close to A$6.5 billion.

韓國(guó)財(cái)務(wù)省稱,建造航母將花費(fèi)約2.03萬(wàn)億韓元(合23億美元)。這一數(shù)字還不包括所需的20架F35b戰(zhàn)機(jī)的費(fèi)用,在加上為其搭配的艦載機(jī),總成本將接近65億澳元。
原創(chuàng)翻譯:龍騰網(wǎng) http://nxnpts.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處


To help sell CVX to parliament, the navy describes it as a light aircraft carrier, even though it would not be at all light. At a 4 February seminar, the navy said its unladen displacement would be in the 30,000-tonne class, which can be interpreted as anything up to 39,999 tonnes. Since the length would be 265 metres and the width (apparently not beam) would be 43 metres, a full-load displacement of 50,000 tonnes looks plausible.

為了向國(guó)會(huì)兜售國(guó)產(chǎn)航母計(jì)劃,海軍將其描述為一艘輕型航空母艦,盡管它一點(diǎn)也不輕。在一次研討會(huì)上,海軍說(shuō)它的空載排水量是30000噸級(jí),實(shí)際上空載噸位直逼39999噸。根據(jù)長(zhǎng)度265米,寬度(不是橫梁)43米的數(shù)據(jù)進(jìn)行估算,韓國(guó)國(guó)產(chǎn)航母的滿載噸位可以達(dá)到5萬(wàn)噸。

Nationalism helps drive South Korean technology programs. But, so far, the carrier proposal is pushing the limits of what techno-nationalism will support. Opposition to the proposal has appeared not just in parliament—where, for example, two politicians, retired generals of the army, said the money should instead be spent on F-35As or Aegis air-defence destroyers. Doubts were also expressed when the navy posted a video of its February seminar on YouTube. Within three hours, an avalanche of criticism had appeared in the comment section. The navy promptly dexed the video—but it’s back up now, with the comment function disabled.

雖然民族主義有助于推動(dòng)韓國(guó)科技項(xiàng)目的發(fā)展。但是到目前為止,航母建造計(jì)劃是在挑戰(zhàn)韓國(guó)民族主義所能支持的技術(shù)極限。不僅韓國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)有人提出質(zhì)疑,例如,兩名政治家,軍隊(duì)的退休將軍,認(rèn)為這筆錢應(yīng)該花在購(gòu)買F-35A或宙斯盾防空驅(qū)逐艦上。而且當(dāng)海軍將研討會(huì)視頻上傳油管時(shí),也有韓國(guó)網(wǎng)民提出質(zhì)疑。不到三個(gè)小時(shí),評(píng)論區(qū)就出現(xiàn)了鋪天蓋地的批評(píng)聲音。海軍立即刪除了這段視頻,雖然現(xiàn)在它又恢復(fù)了視頻,但關(guān)閉了評(píng)論區(qū)。