By Stephen Losey  Mar 13

作者：斯蒂芬·洛西，3月13日

 

F-35s in various stages of production by Lockheed Martin at Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Lockheed Martin)

洛克希德·马丁公司在德克萨斯州沃斯堡的空军第四工厂生产处于不同生产阶段的F-35。（洛克希德·马丁公司）

 

The Defense Department said Tuesday it has officially made its long-awaited decision to move forward with full-rate production on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

美国国防部周二表示，已正式做出期待已久的决定，继续全速生产F-35联合攻击战斗机。

 

William LaPlante, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, signed a memo approving the decision, known as Milestone C, earlier in the day, the Pentagon said in a statement. The Defense Acquisition Board, which LaPlante chairs, met on March 7 to consider whether to move the F-35 into full-rate production.

五角大楼在一份声明中说，负责采购和支持工作的国防部副部长·威廉·拉普兰特在当天早些时候签署了一份批准这项被称为里程碑C的决定的备忘录。由拉普兰特主持的国防采购委员会于3月7日召开会议，考虑是否将F-35投入全速生产。

 

“This is a major achievement for the F-35 program,” LaPlante said in the statement. “This decision — backed by my colleagues in the department — highlights to the services, F-35 cooperative program partners, and foreign military sales customers that the F-35 is stable and agile, and that all statutory and regulatory requirements have been appropriately addressed.”

拉普兰特在声明中说：“这是F-35项目的一项重大成就”，“这一决定得到了我在国防部同事的支持，向各军种、F-35合作项目合作伙伴和外国军事销售客户强调，F-35稳定灵活，所有法律和监管要求都得到了适当解决。”

 

The decision came more than four years after the Pentagon originally planned, and followed multiple years of delays due to troubles setting up the necessary Joint Simulation Environment tests.

这一决定是在五角大楼最初计划四年多之后做出的，之后由于建立必要的联合模拟环境测试而推迟了多年。

 

The Pentagon said that the Milestone C approval sets the F-35 program up to “efficiently produce and deliver the next generation” of jets. Before the jet could move into full-rate production, the department said the program needed control of its manufacturing process, acceptable performance and reliability, and for adequate sustainment and support systems to be established.

五角大楼表示，里程碑C的批准使F-35计划能够“高效生产和交付下一代”喷气式飞机。该部门表示，在喷气式飞机投入全速生产之前，该项目需要控制其制造过程、可接受的性能和可靠性，并建立足够的维持和支持系统。

 

Lockheed Martin is already building F-35s at essentially full capacity, producing about 150 of the jets each year. This means authorizing the F-35 for full-rate production will likely have a somewhat muted effect on how many jets are built.

洛克希德·马丁公司已经在满负荷生产F-35，每年制造约150架。这意味着，授权F-35全速生产可能会对制造多少架喷气式飞机产生一定的影响。

 

“The F-35 enterprise has made significant improvements over the last decade, and we will always be driven to continuously improve sustainability, interoperability, and lethality so warfighters have the capability needed to fight and win when called to do so,” F-35 program executive officer Lt. Gen. Mike Schmidt said. “Moreover, the program and our great people can now focus on the future of the F-35 instead of the past.”

F-35项目执行官迈克·施密特中将表示：“F-35企业在过去十年中取得了重大进步，我们将始终致力于不断提高可持续性、互操作性和杀伤力，使作战人员具备战斗所需的能力，并在接到召唤时取得胜利。”“此外，该项目和我们伟大的人民现在可以关注F-35的未来，而不是过去。”

 

The F-35 completed the series of Joint Simulation Environment tests known as “runs for score” in September. Those 64 tests, carried out at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, put all three versions of the jet through scenarios akin to what they might encounter in combat, such as defensive counter-air, cruise missile defense, and destruction of enemy air defense trials.

F-35在9月完成了一系列被称为“分数赛跑”的联合模拟环境测试。这64次测试是在马里兰州帕图森特河海军航空站进行的，使这三种型号的喷气式飞机都经历了类似于它们在战斗中可能遇到的场景，如防御防空、巡航导弹防御和摧毁敌方防空试验。

 

The Pentagon’s Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, then analyzed the data collected in the F-35′s tests and produced a report used to arrive at the milestone C decision.

五角大楼作战测试和评估主任办公室随后分析了F-35测试中收集的数据，并编制了一份报告，用于得出里程碑C的决定。

 

Raymond O’Toole, acting director of operational test and evaluation, said his office had some concerns and recommendations, which the program is now working to address. One such concern was the need to improve test infrastructure that can be used to support the jet’s development, and make sure future upgrades known as Block 4 can be tested.

运营测试和评估代理总监雷蒙德·奥图尔表示，他的办公室有一些担忧和建议，该项目目前正在努力解决这些问题。其中一个令人担忧的问题是，需要改进可用于支持喷气式飞机开发的测试基础设施，并确保未来被称为批次 4的升级能够得到测试。

 

More than 990 F-35s have so far been delivered to the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, allies, and foreign military sales customers.

到目前为止，已经向美国空军、海军和海军陆战队、盟友和外国军事销售客户交付了990多架F-35。