电磁武器：不是你想射就能射

译者 dlq

写在前面：大刘当年的《全频阻塞干扰》的两个版本至今记忆犹新，电磁武器在其他科幻作品中叶屡见不鲜，有攻击人的也有只针对电子设备的。但是有没有想过，这样也许会降低战争的底线，反正不会死人，多打几个也没有什么呢？看来，最好的办法不是研发更先进的武器，而是找到让人不再发动战争的方法。另外，最后那个冷水浴和水泥法拉第笼真是太赞了。

BULLETS and bombs are so 20th-century. The wars of the 21st will be dominated by ray guns. That, at least, is the vision of a band of military technologists who are building weapons that work by zapping the enemy’s electronics, rather than blowing him to bits. The result could be conflict that is less bloody, yet more effective, than what is now seen as conventional battle.

子弹和炸弹是20世纪的玩意了，21世纪的战争将是射线枪的天下。至少有那么一帮子军事技术人员在研究只针对敌方电子设备而非敌人本身的武器。这将使得战争少了一些血腥，比传统战争更高效。

Electromagnetic weapons, to give these ray guns their proper name, are inspired by the cold-war idea of using the radio-frequency energy released by an atom bomb exploded high in the atmosphere to burn out an enemy’s electrical grid, telephone network and possibly even the wiring of his motor vehicles, by inducing a sudden surge of electricity in the cables that run these things.

射线枪被命名为电磁武器是理所当然的，冷战时期人们发现原子弹释放出的射频能量很高，在通过线路时会引起电流脉冲激增，足以摧毁敌方的电力网、电话网，甚至可能烧坏电子战车的接线。

That idea, fortunately, was never tried in earnest (though some tests were carried out). But, by thinking smaller, military planners have developed weapons that use a similar principle, without the need for a nuclear explosion. Instead, they create their electromagnetic pulses with magnetrons, the microwave generators at the hearts of radar sets (and also of microwave ovens). The result is kit that can take down enemy missiles and aircraft, stop tanks in their tracks and bring speedboats to a halt. It can also scare away soldiers without actually killing them. 

幸运的是这个点子以前从未被认真对待过（尽管的确做了一些实验）。但是考虑到更轻巧原则，军火商们已经对其做了改进使其不再需要核爆炸。相反，他们用磁控管（雷达核心部位的微波源就是它，微波炉自然也是）产生电磁脉冲。结果可以使得敌方导弹、飞机半空失灵，坦克成为废铁，快艇发动不了。它还可以吓跑敌军而不伤害他们。

Many electromagnetic weapons do, indeed, look like radars, at least to non-expert eyes. America’s air force is developing a range of them based on a type of radar called an active electronically scanned array (AESA). When acting as a normal radar, an AESA broadcasts its microwaves over a wide area. At the touch of a button, however, all of its energy can be focused onto a single point. If that point coincides with an incoming missile or aircraft, the target’s electronics will be zapped.

很多电磁武器的确看起来很像雷达，至少非专业眼光看是这样的。美国空军对某型号的雷达进行改进做出了一系列电磁武器，名叫主动电子扫描阵列（AESA)。当作为普通雷达时，AESA发出广频段的微波。按下切换按钮，它的所有能量就能集中到一个单一频率。如果这个频率和来犯的导弹或者飞机的频率一致，目标电子设备就会失灵。

Small AESAs—those light enough to fit on a plane such as a joint strike fighter (F-35)—are probably restricted to zapping air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles (the air force is understandably reticent about supplying details of their capabilities). Ground- or ship-based kit can draw more power. This will be able to attack both ballistic missiles and aircraft, whose electronics tend to be better shielded.

小型AESA轻到可以安装在飞机上，比如联合攻击战斗机F-35，这样就可能对空对空、地对空导弹起到限制作用（空军方面理所当然的对这一细节保持沉默）。地面或水面设备则需要更多能量。因而将有可能袭击弹道导弹和飞机，它们的电子设备做了更好的电磁屏蔽。

In the case of the F-35, then, this sort of electromagnetic artillery is mainly defensive. But another plane, the Boeing Growler, uses electromagnetics as offensive weapons. The Growler, which first saw action in Iraq in 2010 and has been extensively (though discreetly) deployed during the NATO air war against Colonel Qaddafi’s forces in Libya, is a souped-up version of the Super Hornet. It is fitted with five pods: two under each wing and one under the fuselage. Some pods contain AESAs or similar electromagnetic weapons. Others have eavesdropping equipment inside them. In combination, the pods can be used either to spy on enemy communications or to destroy them; to suppress anti-aircraft fire; to disable the electronics of ground vehicles; and to make life so hazardous for enemy aircraft that they dare not fly (and probably to shoot them down electronically, too, though no one will confirm this). The Growler is able to keep its weapons charged up and humming by lowering special turbines into the airstream that rushes past the plane when it is flying. America has ordered 114 of the planes, and has taken delivery of 53.

以F-35为例，这种类型的电磁炮主要用于防御。而另一款波音“咆哮者”的电磁武器则是用来进攻的。咆哮者首次亮相是在2010年伊拉克战场，当北约对卡扎菲采取行动时也被大范围（尽管是很小心地）的安置在利比亚战场，它简直就是个升级版的大黄蜂。它携带了五个吊舱，两翼下各两个，机身下一个。一些舱里就有AESA或者相似的电磁武器。另一些舱里则是窃听设备。两者结合，咆哮者不仅可以窃听敌方的通讯网络，也能摧毁它们。它可以压制敌方空中火力，可以摧毁地面战车的电子设备，可以使得敌军空中力量成为摆设，敌军不敢出动飞机（当然也可能将它们击落，没人能保证这点）。咆哮者可以通过降低特殊涡轮转动将自身带入飞过的气流来保证电磁武器充电、运作。美国已经预定了114架该种飞机，已经运送53架。

By land, sea and air

海陆空通吃

Nor are aircraft the only vehicles from which destructive electromagnetic pulses can be launched. BAE Systems, a British defence firm, is building a ship-mounted electromagnetic gun. The High-Powered Microwave, as it is called, is reported by Aviation Week to be powerful enough to disable all of the motors in a swarm of up to 30 speedboats. Ships fitted with such devices would never be subject to the sort of attack that damaged USS Cole in 2000, when an al-Qaeda boat loaded with explosives rammed it. A gun like this would also be useful for stopping pirate attacks against commercial shipping.

能搭载毁灭性电磁武器的不仅只有飞机。英国军事公司BAE正在研究一种船载电磁枪，名字叫做“高能微波”，据航空周刊报道其力量足以打击30艘快艇的作战群。战船装配这样的武器将威力大增，像2000年基地组织为炸毁科尔号而出动装满炸药的船只将不再是重大威胁。这样的电磁枪也可以用来针对抢夺商业船只的海盗。

Land vehicles, too, will soon be fitted with electromagnetic cannon. In 2013 America hopes to deploy the Radio-Frequency Vehicle Stopper. This device, developed at the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate in Quantico, Virginia, is a microwave transmitter the size and shape of a small satellite dish that pivots on top of an armoured car. When aimed at another vehicle, it causes that vehicle’s engine to stall.

地面战车也一样将迅速装备电磁炮。美国希望到2013年部署战车射频干扰器。弗吉尼亚匡提科的非杀伤性武器联合局研发了这一装置，它是一个微波发射器，样子像小型碟形卫星，安装在装甲车顶部。当它对另一战车发动进攻时，将导致敌方战车发动机失灵。

This gentle way of handling the enemy—stopping his speedboats, stalling his tanks—has surprising advantages. For example, it expands the range of targets that can be attacked. Some favourite tricks of modern warfare, such as building communications centres in hospitals, or protecting sites with civilian “human shields”, cease to be effective if it is simply the electronics of the equipment being attacked that are destroyed. Though disabling an aircraft’s avionics will obviously cause it to crash, in many other cases, no direct harm is done to people at all.

文明对待敌军的方式就是阻止他的舰艇，让他的坦克寸步难行。这种战争方式好处多多，比如它能扩大可攻击目标的范围。一些现代战争常用的手段，比如在医院或者其他以保护平民为由的避难所建立通讯中心，将不再有效，因为电磁武器攻击时只让电子设备失灵。尽管让飞机失灵显然就意味着坠机，但是在其他大部分情况下，将不会对人造成直接伤亡。

The logical conclusion of all this is a so-called “human-safe” missile, which carries an electromagnetic gun instead of an explosive warhead. Such a missile is being developed at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, and will soon be tested at the White Sands Missile Range.

所有这些指向“人民安全”型导弹，它使用的电磁枪而不是火药弹。新墨西哥科特兰空军基地已经在研制这样的导弹了，并很快将在白沙导弹试验场测试。

There is, however, at least one electromagnetic weapon that is designed to attack enemy soldiers directly—though with the intention of driving them off, rather than killing them. This weapon, which is called the Active Denial System, has been developed by the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, in collaboration with Raytheon. It works by heating the moisture in a person’s skin to the point where it feels, according to Kelley Hughes, an official at the directorate who volunteered to act as a guinea pig, like opening a hot oven. People’s reaction, when hit by the beam, is usually to flee. The beam’s range is several hundred metres.

但是至少有一种电磁武器是直接针对敌方士兵的，虽然目的是将他们撂倒而不是杀了他们。非杀伤性武器联合局联与雷神公司正在联合开发这种“新式高能微波武器”。据联合局的官员 Kelley Hughes（他也是参与实验的小白鼠之一）说，这种武器能将人体表的水分蒸干让人感觉到了火焰山。当人被这种武器击中，通常会选择逃跑。武器有效范围能达到几百米。

Such anti-personnel weapons are controversial. Tests on monkeys, including ones in which the animals’ eyes were held open to check that the beam does not blind, suggest it causes no permanent damage. But when a vehicle-mounted Active Denial System was sent to Afghanistan in May 2010, it was eventually shipped back home without being used. The defence department will not say exactly why. The suspicion, though, is that weapons like the Active Denial System really are reminiscent in many minds of the ray guns of science fiction, and that using them in combat would be a PR mistake. Disabling communications and destroying missiles is one thing. Using heat-rays on the enemy might look bad in the newspapers, and put civilians off their breakfast.

这种反人类武器是有争议的。参加实验的实验猴受到攻击后经检查并没有致盲，表明该武器不会造成永久伤害。2010年五月一台装配了这种新式微波武器的装甲车被派往阿富汗，但是并未派上用场就被送了回来。国防部并没有详细解释原因。猜测可能是这种类型的武器的确勾起了很多科幻迷对于射线枪的回忆，将它们投入战场会犯公共错误。摧毁通讯系统和导弹和这是两码事。对敌军使用射线对新闻舆论不利，会让民众寝食难安。

Cold showers are good for you

冷水浴不错

To every action there is, of course, an equal and opposite reaction, and researchers are just as busy designing ways of foiling electromagnetic weapons as they are developing them. Most such foils are types of Faraday cage—named after the 19th-century investigator who did much of the fundamental research on electromagnetism.

俗话说魔高一尺道高一丈，研究者正忙于研究克制电磁武器的方法。多数方法都是法拉第笼的模式，它是以19世纪对电磁场做了大量基础研究的发明者法拉第命名的。

A Faraday cage is a shield of conductive material that stops electromagnetic radiation penetrating. Such shields need not be heavy. Nickel- and copper-coated polyester mesh is a good starting point. Metallised textiles—chemically treated for greater conductivity—are also used. But Faraday cages can be costly. EMP-tronic, a firm based in Morarp, Sweden, has developed such shielding, initially for the Gripen, a Swedish fighter jet. It will shield buildings too, though, for a suitable consideration. To cover one a mere 20 metres square with a copper-mesh Faraday cage the firm charges €300,000 ($400,000).

所谓法拉第笼就是一个用导电材料制作的屏蔽电磁场的设备。（译者注：其实就是用的静电屏蔽的原理，导体的外壳对它的内部起到“保护”作用，使它的内部不受外部电场的影响，即内部场强为零。）这样的设备一般不重。镀镍和铜的聚酯网就是不错的选择。镀金纺织物经过化学处理具有更好的导电性也常用。但是法拉第笼很烧钱。瑞典公司EMP-tronic已经研发了这样的屏蔽笼，最初是为瑞典战机“鹰狮”设计的。当然经过合适的改进也可以用来保护建筑物。但是仅仅是保护20平米的铜网法拉第笼就需花费40万美元。

Shielding buildings may soon become less expensive than that. At least two groups of scientists—one at the National Research Council Canada and the other at Global Contour, a firm in Texas—are developing electrically conductive cement that will block electromagnetic pulses. Global Contour’s mixture, which includes fibres of steel and carbon, as well as a special ingredient that the firm will not disclose, would add only $20 to the $150 per cubic metre, or thereabouts, which ordinary concrete costs.

也许保护建筑物很快就不会那么贵了，至少有两个团队的科学家在研究导电水泥能够阻止电磁脉冲，一个来自加拿大国家研究院一个来自德克萨斯的公司Global Contour。Global Contour研发的水泥含有钢铁纤维和碳纤维，以及一种该公司不会公开的独家秘方，相较于普通混凝土每立方米大约只加价20至150美元。

The arms race to protect small vehicles and buildings against electromagnetic warfare, then, has already begun. Protecting ships, however, requires lateral thinking. For obvious reasons, they cannot be encased in concrete. And building a conventional Faraday cage round a naval vessel would be horribly expensive.

电磁武器和反电磁武器的军备竞赛已经开始。但是保护船只需要水平思考（译者注：水平思考这个概念是由享誉全球的著名思维大师、心理学家爱德华·德·波诺博士于1967年提出的，它旨在推动人们进行创新思维，意思是“以非正统的方式或者显然地非逻辑的方式来寻求解决问题的办法”）。显然船只不能用水泥围起来。而且围绕舰艇修建一个常规的法拉第笼花费不菲。

Daniel Tam, of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego, thinks he has a way to get round that. He proposes to use the electrical conductivity of the sodium and chloride ions in seawater to create a novel type of Faraday cage. A shroud of seawater around a ship, thrown up by special pumps and hoses if the vessel came under electromagnetic attack, would do the trick, he reckons.

圣地亚哥空间和海上作战司令部的Daniel Tam认为他找到了解决的办法。他建议使用海水中导电的钠离子和氯离子还建造一个新型法拉第笼。当船只受到电磁打击时，通过特殊的抽水泵和软管使船只被海水包围，就能解决问题。

It is an ambitious idea. Whether it works or not, it shows how much the nature of modern belligerency is changing. Bombs and bullets will always have their place, of course. But the thought that a cold shower could protect a ship from attack is almost surreal.

这个主意太赞了。不管它是否能成功，这表明现代战争的本质已经变了。炸弹和子弹当然一直会有用武之地。但是通过让船只洗冷水浴来免于攻击不是一个很梦幻的方法吗？