中國造彩虹4 無人機在伊拉克首次參與實戰
HONG KONG — After more than a decade of fighting in Iraq, the names of the American-made drones striking targets there have become familiar: Predator, Reaper, Sentinel.
香港——在伊拉克作戰十年之後，打擊各種目標的美製無人駕駛飛機的名號變得耳熟能詳：“捕食者”(Predator)、“死神”(Reaper)、“哨兵”(Sentinel)。
But this month, a new model entered the fray: the Chinese-made Caihong-4.
但在本月，一個新的型號加入競爭：中國製造的“彩虹4”。
According to footage released by the Iraqi armed forces, soldiers used the Chinese drone on Dec. 6 to destroy an ISIS position amid efforts to retake the city of Ramadi. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense confirmed the video was real.
根據伊拉克武裝部隊發佈的視頻，在12月6日，嘗試奪回拉馬迪市的過程中，士兵利用這種中國無人機摧毀了一個ISIS據點。國防部發言人證實，視頻是真實的。
The lethal strike represents a major step forward in China’s drive to become a leading exporter of military equipment, experts say. Iraq is the only known user of the drone, also known as the CH-4, which closely resembles the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper.
專家說，這次致命攻擊代表中國朝着軍事設備主要出口國的地位邁進了一大步。目前，伊拉克是這種無人機在實戰中的唯一已知使用者。它也被稱作CH-4，與通用原子公司(General Atomics)的MQ-9死神非常相似。
Its first use in combat may be a selling point for potential buyers.
對潛在買家來說，它在戰爭中的首次使用可能是個賣點。
“This is the first time I’ve heard of a Chinese drone, such as the CH-4 (which is basically a clone of the Reaper), reporting an actual kill, and I suppose it would be cliché to say that it won’t be the last,” Richard A. Bitzinger, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, wrote in an email on Wednesday.
新加坡南洋理工大學(Nanyang Technological University) 拉惹勒南國際研究學院(S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies)高級研究員理查德·A·畢辛格(Richard A. Bitzinger)週三在一封電郵裏寫道，“這是我頭次聽說CH-4（它基本上克隆了死神）等中國無人機傳出擊斃敵人的消息。我想，一種老套的說法是，這不會是最後一次傳出類似消息。”
Mr. Bitzinger estimated that Iraq’s armed forces had to buy six to 12 Chinese drones to conduct operations efficiently.
畢辛格估計，伊拉克武裝部隊要買入六至十二架中國製無人機才能展開有效行動。
“When the Iraqi MoD officially unveiled them in October, two ground control stations could be seen,” Jeremy Binnie, Middle East/Africa editor at IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, wrote in an email, referring to the Ministry of Defense. “Given a typical setup of two aircraft per control station, Iraq probably has at least four.”
“伊拉克國防部十月份把它們公開亮相時，我們可以看到兩個地面控制站，”《簡氏防務週刊》(IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly)中東/非洲編輯傑里米·賓尼(Jeremy Binnie)在一封電郵裏寫道。“鑑於每個控制站通常會操控兩架飛機，伊拉克很可能至少有四架。”
China also uses the CH-4. Its predecessor, the CH-3, has been sold to both Nigeria and Pakistan, he said.
中國也在使用CH-4。他說，CH-4的前身CH-3已經銷往尼日利亞和巴基斯坦。
Last year, China became the world’s third-largest arms exporter, behind the United States and Russia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank in Sweden. China’s defense companies have been working hard to export higher-end systems — like drones, air defense systems and even stealth fighters — but with few successes so far.
據瑞典智庫斯德哥爾摩國際和平研究所(Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)透露，去年，中國成爲繼美國和俄羅斯之後的世界第三大軍火出口國。中國的軍工企業一直努力出口高端系統——比如無人機、防空系統，甚至隱形戰鬥機，但迄今爲止，收穫甚少。
The CH-4, whose name translates as “Rainbow,” is manufactured by the Beijing-based China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, a state-owned enterprise group. The drone “represents China’s research and production of drones march toward the world,” according to a news article from 2014 on the conglomerate’s website.
彩虹-4無人機的生產商是位於北京的國企中國航天科技集團公司。該集團網站2014年的一篇新聞報道稱，這款無人機“代表了中國研製的無人機正在走向世界。”
Calls and a fax sent to C.A.S.C. went unanswered.
中國航天科技集團沒有回覆尋求置評的電話和傳真。
The drone was first seen at an airshow in Beijing in 2013, according to China News Service. In March 2015, a state-run news agency said such drones had been handed to the Iraqi Air Force, citing Russian news reports. In October, Iraq’s defense minister inspected a Caihong drone at an air base in the city of Kut, according to a video shared by his ministry.
據中國新聞社報道，這款無人機於2013年在北京航展首次亮相。2015年3月，一家官方新聞機構援引俄羅斯的新聞報道稱，中國已經向伊拉克空軍交付此型號的無人機。伊拉克國防部公佈的視頻顯示，該國國防部長今年10月在伊拉克庫特空軍基地時曾查看一架彩虹無人機。
The CH-4 can strike from an altitude of about 16,000 feet and fly at up to 112 miles per hour, according to an article in China Space News, a publication run by C.A.S.C.
據中國航天科技集團旗下的《中國航天報》報道，該無人機巡航高度爲5000米至7000米，巡航時速爲150公里至180公里。
“What is clear is that the price of one Caihong-4 drone is much lower than the price of an advanced battle tank on the international arms market,” said the article, published in March.
該報今年3月發表的文章稱，“可以肯定的是，一架彩虹-4無人機售價會遠遠低於國際軍貿市場上一輛先進主戰坦克的價格。”
The loss of a drone is “affordable even when military budgets are tight or in small countries,” it noted.
該文章指出，“即使是軍費不甚寬裕的中、小國家也完全損失得起。”
Chinese-built drones and aircraft are generally built to compete on price, experts say. Technological limitations mean the finished products do not often perform at the same level as their Western counterparts, but they are cheaper — and have far fewer restrictions on who can buy them.
專家們表示，中國製造的無人機及飛機通常是以價格取勝。技術限制意味着，其成品的性能通常不如西方同行的產品，但它們價格比較低，而且針對購買者的限制要少得多。
“China is known to have difficulties in developing aero engine technology, and this is also true for UAV engines. As a result, Chinese UAVs are generally less capable in terms of performance,” Kelvin Wong, an Asia Pacific defense technology reporter with IHS, wrote in an email, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.
《簡氏防務週刊》亞太國防技術記者凱爾文·黃(Kelvin Wong)在郵件中寫道，“衆所周知，中國在研發航空發動機技術方面遇到了困難，無人機發動機的情況也是一樣。因此，中國的無人機在性能上通常差一些。”
As resources are scarce for Iraq’s armed forces, Chinese drones offer a fast alternative to allied air strikes, according to Jeffrey Lin and Peter W. Singer, who have traced reports of Chinese drone deployments in Iraq, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
據追蹤有關伊拉克、尼日利亞及沙特阿拉伯使用中國無人機情況的報道的傑弗裏·林(Jeffrey Lin)和彼得·W·辛格(Peter W. Singer)透露，由於伊拉克武裝部隊資源匱乏，中國無人機不失爲聯合空襲行動的一個快速生效的替代選擇。
“The long loiter time and precision weaponry of armed drones give small Iraqi units flexible and rapid response fire support to exploit sudden battlefield conditions,” they wrote in a blog post on on Tuesday.
他們在週二發佈的博文中寫道，“武裝無人機航行時間較長，攜帶精確武器，這爲小規模的伊拉克部隊提供了靈活、快速的火力支援，以對突如其來的戰情加以利用。”
Apart from the lower price of Chinese drones, restrictions imposed by the United States on the export of armed unmanned systems open a potentially lucrative market for Chinese manufacturers, Timothy R. Heath, a senior international defense research analyst with the RAND Corporation, wrote in an email.
蘭德公司(RAND Corporation)高級國際防禦研究分析師蒂莫西·R·西斯(Timothy R. Heath)在郵件中寫道，除了中國無人機價格較低這個因素之外，美國對無人系統的出口限制也爲中國生產商打開了一個可能帶來巨大回報的市場。
“Considering the number of countries that have acquired or expressed interest in Chinese drones, the recent incident in Iraq in which a government uses Chinese armed drones to strike domestic insurgents may become more commonplace around the world,” he wrote.
他說，“伊拉克政府最近利用中國武裝無人機攻擊國內叛亂分子，鑑於有很多國家已經拿到中國無人機或對此表示興趣，這種情況可能在世界範圍內變得比較普遍。”
Indeed, dozens of countries now manufacture reconnaissance drones, Mr. Bitzinger noted. And their use is all but expected on the modern battlefield.
畢辛格指出，實際上現在有幾十個國家在生產無人駕駛偵察機。因此它們會在現代戰場上亮相也在意料之中。
“Now it appears that armed drones (Chinese, European, Iranian, Russian) are the next phase in this proliferation,” he wrote.
他寫道，“在接下來的一個階段裏，似乎會出現（來自中國、歐洲、伊朗及俄羅斯的）武裝無人機的擴散。”
