The F35 is the greatest boondoggle in American history, as one writer says, “too expensive to use, too expensive to lose”. Over its lifespan, it will cost the American taxpayer $1.7 trillion. An F35B costs $138 million dollars and over $36,000 an hour to operate.

正如一位作者所言，F35 是美国史上最大的浪费，“ 太贵了，用不起，也损失不起”。
在其寿命期内，它将耗费美国纳税人1.7万亿美元，一架 F35B 的成本为1.38亿美元，每小时的运营成本超过3.6万美元。

Intended to replace the F16, the F35 is slow, maneuvers sluggishly and cannot fire its new lightweight Gatling without destroying the housing and the airplane. It suffers from 13 “class one” defects that endanger both the aircraft and its crew. And 871 flaws that must be corrected before it can be fully operational—in 5 years.

F35 打算取代 F16，但它速度慢，机动迟缓，还无法在不破坏外壳和飞机的情况下使用其新型轻加特林机炮，F35 存在13个危及战机和机组人员的 "一级 "缺陷，还有871项缺陷，必须在5年内纠正后才能完全投入使用。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Still, the US has managed to force this aerial junk on a lot of its allies, most recently the UAE, which has prompted the Israelis who have two squadrons of the F35 and mostly use it for PR, to ask for the F22, which, of course, they can only afford to buy with American money.

不过，美国还是成功地把这种空中垃圾强加给了很多盟友，最近的一个是阿联酋，这也促使拥有两个 F35中队的以色列人要求购买 F22，当然，他们只会用美国的钱来买。

Last year, there were reports that the Syrians had downed an F35 over Syria with a Soviet era S200. The Israelis claimed a bird did it—over Israel. Nobody really knows.
The Syrians certainly shot something down! And it wasn’t an…um…bird.

去年，有报道称叙利亚人用苏联时代的 S200 在叙利亚上空击落了一架 F35，以色列人声称是一只鸟干的，而且是在以色列空域——没有人知道真相究竟如何。
叙利亚人肯定击落了什么东西 ! 而且那不是一只 ... 呃 ... 鸟。

However, it is unlikely that the Israelis are using the F35 over Syria. Losing an F35 to the Syrians–especially to a large anti-Zionist Syrian crow – would be too big embarrassment. Most IDF strikes inside Syria seem to have been carried out by F16s, which are faster, carry more ordinance and have the maneuverability to avoid incoming missiles if they detect them early enough.

然而，以色列不太可能在叙利亚使用 F35，损失一架 F35战机，输给叙利亚人，尤其是输给一群反犹太复国主义的叙利亚人，将会非常尴尬。多数以色列国防军在叙利亚境内发动的空袭都是由 F16战斗机执行的，这种战斗机速度更快，携带更多的弹药，如果能尽早发现来袭的导弹，以其机动性，可以避开来袭的导弹。

Another point….
Gen. Tod Wolters, who leads U.S. European Command, offered this explanation:

还有一点.......
美国欧洲司令部司令托德·沃尔特斯将军给出了这样的解释：

“You cannot operate an F-35 in the vicinity of an S-400. They won’t talk to each other, and what the two systems will attempt to do, certainly the S-400 against the F-35, is attempt to exploit the F-35’s capabilities.”

“你不能在 S-400 附近使用F35，这两系统是不对付的，S-400 如果对上 F35，显然 S-400 会利用机会测试和寻找F35的漏洞。”

The US, of course, has been using the F22 in Eastern Syria and Iraq within range of Russian systems, which now reportedly can detect even this more capable stealth aircraft.

当然，美国一直在叙利亚东部和伊拉克使用 F22，且在俄罗斯的防空系统范围内，据报道现在连F22这种能力更强的隐身飞机都能探测到。

Yes, the Americans tried out the F35 in Afghanistan, since locals throwing rocks weren’t much of a threat. The sales point of the F35 is “stealth”, which is only fine–when your opponent doesn’t have much in the way of advanced radar equipment.

是的，美国人在阿富汗试用了 F35，因为当地人扔石头并不构成威胁，F35的卖点是“隐形”，但这只有在你的对手没有太多先进雷达设备的情况下才行。

“Stealth” is not invisibility.

“隐形”并非不可见
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


An S400 real time anti-stealth radar system can certainly pick up even a large bird-sized obxt, at 150 km, especially when moving at 700km per hour, which is a giveaway.

一套S400实时反隐身雷达系统，在150公里的距离上，肯定能探测到哪怕是鸟类大小的物体，尤其是这个物体还以700公里每小时的速度移动时，必然会暴露，这就是送死。

The Russians have yet to allow S300 or S400 launches in Syria thanks to a tacit agreement with the Israelis not to exacerbate regional tensions: so, it is not just that the very, very pragmatic Israelis don’t want to use the unreliable F35 over Syria, whose antiaircraft systems to be so much more sophisticated than, say, Lebanon—they don’t want to provoke the Russians.

俄罗斯尚未允许 S300 或 S400 在叙利亚开火，这要归功于以色列与俄罗斯达成了不加剧地区紧张局势的默契 :
因此，极度务实的以色列不想在叙利亚上空使用不可靠的 F35，叙利亚的防空系统要比黎巴嫩复杂得多——而且他们也不想激怒俄国人。

The last time they did that, the Russians supplied the Syrians with the S300–albeit keeping control of these systems. The warning is obvious: there are redlines.

上一次他们这样做，俄罗斯人向叙利亚人提供了S300——尽管俄罗斯保持了对这些系统的控制， 警告很明显：勿踩红线。

The Pentagon doesn’t really want this dog. Dogs don’t fly.

五角大楼不想要这只狗——这狗它不会飞啊。

But, as in the Yeltsin years in Russia, the US government works for the nation’s oligarchs, a country for Big Tech, by Big Tech, of Big Tech.

但是，就像在叶利钦时代的俄罗斯一样，美国政府为这个国家的寡头们工作，这个国家为大科技公司服务，由大科技公司管理，为大科技公司所有。

The nation’s “defense” industry is a malapropism: all its wars are offensive. If the weapons don’t work too well — it doesn’t matter–because the US doesn’t fight anyone but third world countries. The more expensive and complicated the weapons are, the better it is for he companies that make them. How else can a poor CEO buy that second island in the Caribbean and a new private jet?

美国的 "国防 "工业是一个恶性循环：它所有的战争都是进攻性的，如果武器不太好用——也无所谓——因为美国除了第三世界国家，谁也不打。
武器越昂贵、越复杂，对制造武器的公司就越有利，否则，一个可怜的CEO怎么能买得下加勒比海两个岛屿、一架新私人飞机？

It also doesn’t matter that the America lost to little Vietnam, ended up losing Iraq to Iran, and soon leave Afghanistan, its tail between its legs. It is even losing in Yemen.

美国输给了小小的越南，输给了伊拉克，输给了伊朗，最后，很快又要夹着尾巴离开阿富汗， 甚至在也门也输的一塌糊涂，不过这些都无关紧要。

Of course, bullying other countries is more of a problem when your equipment doesn’t work. The new USS Ford, super carrier in the South China Sea? It can’t launch its aircraft. The UK’s new carrier which is supposed to show the flag against China? Its F35Bs can’t fire their guns. In any case, carriers are nice targets for hypersonic missiles.

当然，当你的装备不行的时候，欺负别的国家就要更麻烦一点。
游弋南中国的新超级航母福特号？——它不能弹射飞机。
英国的新航母，本来是要对中国亮出旗帜的？ —— 它的F35B没法使用机炮。
不管怎样，航母都是高超音速导弹的好目标。

The Russians and Chinese do defense differently – because for them it actually is defense.

俄罗斯人和中国人的“国防”防御方式不同——因为对他们来说，国防是真国防。

When Putin took over, he made it clear to the oligarchs who previously owned the country that they either deferred to the State, or got out. Some went to prison. Some got out. Russia is still very unequal but the Rich toe the line just as they do in China.

普京上台后，他向曾经拥有这个国家的寡头们明确表示，他们要么听命于国家，要么滚出去，有些人进了监狱，有些人逃了出来，尽管俄罗斯仍然非常不平等，但是其富人和中国富人一样，遵规守矩。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


When the Ministry of Defense is not satisfied with a military product, either in terms of cost or performance, it simply cuts orders. This was the case with the Su57. Originally, the government had envisioned putting up to 250 of these aircraft into service by 2025. Now, Russia will get 76 aircraft at a 20% reduction in cost, with better engines, hypersonic weapons, electronics, improved stealth and general finish.

在俄罗斯，当俄国防部对军事不满意时，别管你是成本问题还是性能问题，都会直接削减订单，苏57就是这种情况，原本，政府设想在2025年之前将多达250架这种战机投入使用，但现在，俄罗斯只采购76架，成本降低了20%，配备了更好的发动机、高超音速武器、电子设备，改进了隐身性和总体完成度。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


And the Su57 will cost about $35 to $40 million each compared to the 138 million of the 35B or the $300 million of an F22. One reason for the discrepancy is that US companies expect the taxpayer to pay R&D and developmental costs, which are added to the flyaway cost. Of course, the companies use that R&D for lucrative commercial projects as well.

苏57每架成本约为3500万至4000万美元，而 F35B 的造价是1.38亿美元，F22更是高达3亿美元。
造成这种差异的一个原因是，美国公司希望纳税人支付研发和开发费用，而这些费用是加在成本中的，当然，这些公司也会把这些研发费用用于利润丰厚的商业项目。

Russia doesn’t have money to spare. It is still recovering from the Yelsin years and massive inequality. So it keeps defense companies in line.

俄罗斯没有多余的钱。它仍然处于从叶利钦时代和巨大的不平等中恢复过来的过程中，因此，它让国防企业守住规矩。

The Su57 is a good example but also the T-14 (Armata) tank, where orders were slashed until the contractor promised to a. reduce costs; b. address performance issues.

苏57是一个很好的例子，T-14 ( 阿玛塔 ) 坦克也是 ，其订单被削减，直到承包商承诺：a. 降低成本；b. 解决性能问题。

Putin made clear that Russia is a developing democracy. In the end, the people will rule, oligarchs or not.

普京明确表示，俄罗斯是一个发展中的民主国家，不管有没有寡头，这个国家都将由人民来统治。

By contrast, the US is an “inverted totalitarian state”, or, if you like a “managed” democracy. It is not really a modern state in germs of governance, since it is defined by an 18th Century constitution and institutions, designed to prevent rather than enable democratic rule. The US loved Yeltsin because his “system” was really theirs.

相比之下，美国是一个“倒置的极权国家”—— 如果你喜欢的话，也可以用“有管理的”民主国家这个说法。
它并不是一个真正的现代国家，因为它是由18世纪的宪法和制度定义的，旨在防止而不是促成民主统治。
美国喜欢叶利钦，因为他的“体制”实际上是他们的。