图片中的无人机发展史
We think of drones as a modern invention, but they've been part of warfare for longer than you think. Here's a look at the evolution of drones and the way they've changed how war works.
我们都把无人机当做是现代的新发明，但它们参战的历史可是远比你想象得要长。以下展现的就是无人机的演进发展历史，以及它们是如何改变战争方式的。
1917: Sperry Aerial Torpedo
1917：斯皮里“空中鱼雷”式
Toward the end of World War I, powered flight was in its infancy, the Wright brothers having flown their primitive biplane across the dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, a little over a decade earlier. But it was a time of stunning innovation. In 1917, Peter Cooper and Elmer A. Sperry invented the first automatic gyroscopic stabilizer, which straightens and levels out aircraft during flight, and unmanned flight was born. The new technology was used to convert a U.S. Navy Curtiss N-9 trainer aircraft into the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), controlled by radio. For 50 miles in test flights, the Sperry Aerial Torpedo flew with a 300-pound bomb, but it was never used in combat.
动力飞行器直到一战末期时仍然处于其婴儿期：莱特兄弟驾着他们那原始的双翼机飞过北卡罗来纳州基蒂霍克的沙丘也不过是十年之前的事儿。但这同样是一个充斥着奇妙发明的时代。1917年，彼得.库伯和艾尔姆.A.斯皮里发明了第一台自动陀螺稳定仪，该装置可以帮助飞机在飞行时保持平直向前，无人飞行从此诞生了。美国海军采用了这一新技术，将他们的一架柯蒂斯N-9式教练机改装成了世界上第一架无人飞行载具（UAV）——当时是用无线电波来控制的。斯皮里“空中鱼雷”式在飞行测试中挂载一枚300磅重的炸弹飞行了50英里，但它却从来没有参加过战斗。
1917: Kettering Aerial Torpedo
1917：凯特林“空中鱼雷”式
The wooden Kettering Aerial Torpedo, nicknamed the "Kettering Bug," cost $400 in 1917 and could haul 300 pounds. General Motors' Charles F. Kettering, who designed the Bug, crafted it to launch from a trolley with rolling wheels and gave it detachable wings. Toward the end of World War I, the U.S. military placed orders for large shipments of Kettering Bugs, but the war ended before they were used.
凯特林“空中鱼雷”式也被昵称为“凯特林小飞虫”，这种木制飞机在1917年的造价为400美元，载重为300磅。这种“小虫”由通用公司的查尔斯.F.凯特林设计，飞机配有可拆卸机翼，并且可以从自带滚轮的小车上起飞。到一战末期时，美国军方为“凯特林小飞虫”下了大批订单，但还未来得及投入使用，战争就已经结束了。
1935: DH.82B Queen Bee
1935：DH.82B“蜂后”式
Until 1935, UAVs could not return to their original launching point, so they couldn't be reused. With the invention of the Queen Bee, drones could return to their senders, making them significantly more practical. Peaking at 17,000 feet and traveling a 100 mph maximum, Queen Bees were used in the British Royal Navy and Air Force until 1947.
直到1935年以前为止，当时的无人机在起飞后都无法回到原点，所以没法对其加以再利用。随着“蜂后”式的问世，无人机得以返回其起飞点，这就在很大程度上使得它们变得更为实用了。“蜂后”式的飞行高度达17,000英尺，最大速度为100英里/小时，它在英国皇家海军和皇家空军中一直服役到了1947年。
1944: V-1 (Revenge Weapon-1)
1944：V-1（复仇武器1号）
Adolf Hitler wanted a flying bomb to use against nonmilitary targets, so in 1944 a German engineer, Fieseler Flugzeuhau, designed this 470 mph flying drone. A predecessor to today's cruise missiles, the V-1, which became known as the Vergeltungswaffe, or Revenge Weapon-1, was intended to be used to bomb the British Isles. The V-1 could carry substantially more weight than its predecessors and frequently towed warheads up to 2,000 pounds. Before releasing its bombs, which killed more than 900 civilians in Britain, the V-1 would travel a preprogrammed 150 miles after its launch off a catapult ramp.
阿道夫.ＸＴＬ想要用一种会飞行的炸弹来对付非军事目标，于是在1944年时，一个名叫弗莱舍.弗鲁岑豪的德国工程师设计了这种飞行速度为470英里/小时的无人机。V-1是现代巡航导弹的先驱，得名于“Vergeltungswaffe”——即“复仇武器”1号，当时准备用来轰炸英伦诸岛。V-1的载重量大大超越了它的前辈，而且携带的弹头往往都达到了2000磅。V-1从发射斜坡上起飞之后会先按照预定轨道飞行150英里，然后再释放战斗部，有900名以上的英国平民死于V-1之手。
（译者注：此处存疑，V1实际上造成的伤亡超过两万，而图中的这架飞行器也与我们所熟知的V1大不一样，希望熟悉这方面历史的朋友帮忙解惑）
1955: Ryan Firebee
1995：瑞安“火蜂”式
Manufactured by Ryan Aeronautical Company, the first Firebee prototype, the XQ-2, was created in 1951 and first took flight four years later. Used primarily by the U.S. Air Force, the Firebee was one of the first jet-propelled drones. The unmanned craft were used for intelligence-gathering missions and radio-communications monitoring.
瑞安飞机公司于1951年制造了第一架“火蜂”原型机XQ-2，并在四年后实现了首飞。火蜂作为世界上第一种喷气动力无人机，被美国空军率先装备。这种无人机被用来执行情报收集和监听无线信号的任务。
1963: Lockheed M-21 and D-21
1963：洛克希德M-21与D-21
The M-21, a variant of the A-12, the earliest in the Blackbird family, was a craft used to launch the Lockheed D-21, a higher-flying drone. The M-21 and D-21 were created as part of a project from 1963 until 1968 and kept secret for more than 40 years. The M-21 had an improved design that included a second cockpit for a launch control operator, and together the two designs were used in four missions between 1969 and 1971 to spy on the Lop Nur nuclear test site. The 21s were canceled in 1966 after a collision during a launch between a D-21 drone and the M-21 mother ship.
M-21是A-12的型号之一，也是黑鸟家族中问世最早的一款型号，这型飞机被用来发射洛克希德的一款高空无人机——D-21。M-21和D-21诞生于1963-1968年之间那场秘密项目的一个子工程中，该项目在后来的40多年中始终保持机密状态。M-21的设计比起之前来得到了不少改进，其中包括为发射控制员新增加的一个副驾驶舱。在1969-1971年之间，这两款型号的飞机在罗布泊核试验场上空一起执行了4次间谍任务。1966年，一架D-21无人机在发射时与M-21母机相撞，此后这个“21家族”就退出了历史舞台。
1986: The Pioneer RQ-2A
1986：“先锋”RQ-2A
First launched in December 1986, the Pioneer UAV system -- which gives the tactical commander images of a specific target or battleground image in real time -- performs a wide variety of "reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition" tasks, according to the U.S. Navy. It was first used in the late 1980s when military operations in Grenada, Lebanon, and Libya required a system of unmanned targeting at a low cost. The Pioneer, still in use today, is launched by a rocket-assisted takeoff, weighs 416 pounds, and travels at over 109 miles per hour. It can float, and can be recovered from sea landings.
“先锋”无人机系统于1986年12月实现首飞，它能够为战地指挥官们提供特定目标或战场的实时图像——按照美国海军的说法，它能够执行包括“侦察、监视和目标获取”在内的一系列任务。“先锋”于1980年代末期首次投入使用，它在格林纳达、黎巴嫩和利比亚的军事行动中以较低的损失满足了军方以无人机获取目标的要求。“先锋”至今仍在服役，它由一个火箭助推器发射升空，负重为416磅，每小时飞行速度超过109英里。它可以在空中悬停，而且即使是降落在海上之后也可以回收。
1994: MQ Predator drone
1994：MQ“捕食者”无人机
General Atomics manufactured the MQ Predator drone in 1994. This updated version allows the Predator to transition from a strictly reconnaissance role to a critical ability to transport and launch weapons at targets. More than 125 Predators have been delivered to the U.S. Air Force and six are in use by the Italian Air Force. Predator UAVs have been operational in Bosnia since 1995 to aid NATO, U.N., and U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but are gradually being phased out.
1994年，通用公司开始生产MQ“捕食者”无人机。“捕食者”的最新型号已经从一种纯粹的侦察用机变成了可以携带武器并攻击目标的飞机，而这种能力是非常重要的。迄今为止已经有125架以上的“捕食者”移交给了美国空军，还有6架则在意大利空军中服役。从1995年开始，“捕食者”无人机就被北约和联合国用于执行在波斯尼亚的任务，后来也参加了美国在伊拉克和阿富汗的军事行动，不过目前正在逐渐退出现役。
2004: RQ-7B Shadow 200
2004：RQ-7B“暗影”200
The smallest of a family of drones, the RQ-7B Shadow is used today by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan. The system can locate and identify targets up to 125 km away from the tactical operations center, which allows brigade commanders to see, interoperate, and act swiftly. Widely used in the Middle East, by May 2010, these drones had clocked some 500,000 hours in flight.
RQ-7B“暗影”是无人机大家族中最袖珍的型号，目前在驻伊拉克和阿富汗的美国陆军和海军陆战队中服役。该系统可以对距离战术行动中心125千米之外的目标进行定位和识别，从而使得旅一级的指挥官们能够更为迅速地进行观察、指挥和行动。这款无人机在中东的用途很广泛，截至2010年5月，其飞行总时数已达500,000小时。
2005: Fire Scout Firing Rocket
2005：“火力侦察兵”无人直升机正在发射火箭
The Fire Scout, an unmanned helicopter known for its ability to autonomously take off and land from any aviation-capable warship and at unprepared landing zones, was created by the U.S. military in the early 2000s. Here, the Fire Scout test fires 2.75-inch unguided rockets during weapons testing at Arizona's Yuma Proving Grounds.
“火力侦察兵”这款无人直升机以其能够在任何适宜的军舰上和不适宜的地表上自动起降的能力而著称，它是于2000年初由美军开发出来的。在此图中，这架“火力侦察兵”正在试射2.75英寸非制导火箭弹，摄于亚利桑那州犹马试验场的一次武器试验期间。
2009: RQ-170 Sentinel
2009：RQ-170 “哨兵”
Designed and manufactured by Skunk Works, a Lockheed Martin Corporation subsidiary, the RQ-170 Sentinel is used by the U.S. Air Force. Known as the "Beast of Kandahar" and frequently flying at an altitude of 50,000ft, the RQ-170 was first deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. In May 2011, the RQ-170 was deployed during the raid on the Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was located and killed. In December, another RQ-170 was captured by Iran and shown on Iranian television. This image displays the basic characteristics of the RQ-170: the winged design and 15,240 meter operating altitude.
RQ-170“哨兵”由洛克希德-马丁的子公司“臭鼬工厂”设计制造，并装备于美国空军。RQ-170首次参战是在阿富汗的“持久自由”行动之中，它后来被称为“坎大哈野兽”，飞行高度往往在50000英尺左右。2011年5月，RQ-170参加了对巴基斯坦阿伯塔巴德的突袭，藏身于此的奥萨马.本.拉登在突袭中被击毙。当年12月，另一架RQ-170被伊朗俘获并且被伊朗电视台公之于众。此图展示了RQ-170的基本特征：飞行翼构造以及15240米的飞行高度。
2010: Global Hawk
2010：“全球鹰”
The Global Hawk, a high-flying, long-endurance UAV used by the U.S. Air Force, has an integrated sensor that provides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. First developed in 2001, the Global Hawk has made significant benchmarks in aviation history. Known as the first UAV to fly non-stop across the Pacific Ocean, the Global Hawk was authorized to fly in U.S. airspace for the first time in July 2006. Shown here, a full-scale model of the Global Hawk is displayed during a presentation in Tokyo.
“全球鹰”是美国空军装备的一种高空远程无人机，机上装配有传感器用以进行情报采集、监视和侦察任务。“全球鹰”于2001年开始研制，在航空史上具有里程碑式的重大意义。2006年7月，“全球鹰”获得了在美国领空飞行的许可，并从此成为世界上第一种能够不经停飞越太平洋的无人机。此图中是“全球鹰”的一架全尺寸模型，摄于在东京举办的一次航展上。
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