紐時賞析／太空將成為戰場！ 美五角大廈加緊反制中俄天基作戰

美國五角大廈。美聯社

New Star Wars Plan: Pentagon Rushes to Counter Threats in Orbit

新星戰計劃：五角大廈加緊反制太空威脅

The Pentagon is rushing to expand its capacity to wage war in space, convinced that rapid advances by China and Russia in space-based operations pose a growing threat to U.S. troops and other military assets on the ground and U.S. satellites in orbit.

五角大廈正加緊擴大在太空發動戰爭的能力，相信中國和俄羅斯在天基作戰的迅速進步，對美國部隊、地面其他軍事資產與軌道上的美國衛星，造成不斷增加的威脅。

Details of the push by the Pentagon remain highly classified. But Defense Department officials have increasingly acknowledged that the initiative reflects a major shift in military operations as space increasingly becomes a battleground.

五角大廈努力的詳情仍是高度機密。但國防部官員已日漸承認，隨着太空逐漸變成一個戰場，這項新措施反映軍事行動的重要變化。

No longer will the United States simply rely on military satellites to communicate, navigate and track and target terrestrial threats, tools that for decades have given the Pentagon a major advantage in conflicts.

美國將不再完全依靠軍事衛星來通訊、導航和追蹤及瞄準陸地威脅，而這類工具數十年來一直讓五角大廈在衝突中享有一大優勢。

Instead, the Defense Department is looking to acquire a new generation of ground- and space-based tools that will allow it to defend its satellite network from attack and, if necessary, to disrupt or disable enemy spacecraft in orbit, Pentagon officials have said in a series of interviews, speeches and recent statements.

相反的，五角大廈官員在一系列採訪、演講和最近的聲明中表示，國防部正計劃取得新一代陸基和天基工具，使其能夠防禦己方衛星網路免受到攻擊，而且，如果必要的話，能夠擾亂或讓敵人在軌道上的太空飛行器失效。

The strategy differs fundamentally from previous military programs in space by expanding the range of offensive capabilities — a far cry from the never-built 1980s-era Strategic Defense Initiative proposal, for example, which was focused on using satellites to protect the U.S. from nuclear missile strikes.

透過擴大攻擊能力範圍，這個戰略與以往的太空軍事計劃有根本上的不同，例如，和從未發展的1980年代時期「戰略防禦機先」提案相去甚遠，該提案重點是利用衛星保護美國免受核子飛彈打擊。

“We must protect our space capabilities while also being able to deny an adversary the hostile use of its space capabilities,” Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations at the Space Force, the agency created in 2019 as a new division of the Air Force Department to lead the effort, said in March.

太空軍作戰部長薩茲曼將軍3月說，「我們一定要保護我們的太空能力，同時拒止對手敵意運用其太空能力」。太空軍是2019年成立的機構，作爲空軍部的一個新部門來指揮該項工作。

Pentagon officials and a recent unclassified assessment by the director of national intelligence say that Russia and China have tested or deployed systems such as ground-based high-energy lasers, antisatellite missiles or maneuverable satellites that could be used to disrupt U.S. space assets.

五角大廈官員和國家情報總監一份最近的非機密評估表示，俄羅斯和中國已測試或部署陸基高能雷射、反衛星飛彈或機動性衛星這類系統，可用於擾亂美國太空資產。

The concern has only escalated with reports that Russia may be developing a space-based nuclear weapon that could broadly wipe out satellites in orbit, both commercial and military. Russia’s use of electronic jamming tools during the war in Ukraine — which have at times disrupted advanced U.S. weapons systems — is cited by Pentagon officials as another reason the United States must intensify its defenses in space.

一些報告讓憂心更加升高，這些報告稱俄羅斯也許在發展一種天基核子武器，可以廣泛的消滅軌道上的衛星，包括商業和軍事衛星。五角大廈官員認爲，俄羅斯在烏克蘭戰爭使用的電子干擾工具，有時候會擾亂先進的美國武器系統，是美國必須強化其太空防禦的另一個理由。

“It is now not theoretical,” Gen. Stephen Whiting, who oversees Space Command, which is responsible for using space assets to defend the United States, said in a meeting with reporters last month in Colorado. “It’s real. It’s deployed, out in the environment.”

太空司令部負責運用太空資產保衛美國，監督該司令部的懷庭將軍上月在科羅拉多州與記者會面時表示，「現在這已不是假設，是真的，它已經部署在那邊」。

文／Eric Lipton 譯／周辰陽