打造iPhone 5C式战斗机

    德士隆只要按照自己的、而不是国防部的生产标准来生产“天蝎座”就能成功地做到这一点。这意味着它将主要参照空军飞机执行日常任务的标准来制造。美国国防部并未要求生产更便宜的战术战机，其他国家的空军也无此要求，但是自从认识到市场有使用相对便宜的飞机替代顶级战机的需求后，德士隆就开始在赛斯纳公司运用丰富的喷气战机知识打造一些部件符合军需的战机了——也就是机身、座舱仪器、弹射椅和玻璃座舱罩都要符合军用标准——而其他部位则采用了现成的商用技术。

    这番努力的成果（至少在理论上是如此）就是这架性能出众的漂亮小飞机，它的最高时速可达500英里，在执行ISR或轻型战斗这样的低强度任务时一次升空可续航五小时。它的喷气发动机由霍尼韦尔公司（Honeywell）提供（足以提供3000磅的ISR或武器载荷），航空电子巨头科巴姆公司（Cobham）则为其提供久经考验、性能可靠的座舱科技。

    所以，尽管“天蝎座”是一架全新设计的飞机，德士隆却并没有重新设计多数关键零部件。这不仅让这家公司省下了巨额研发和制造费用，还在没有获得任何政府资助的情况下仅用两年时间就生产出这架全新的喷气战机——按照五角大楼常规的飞机采购流程，这是根本不可能完成的任务。

    但是，美国空军和国防部会有意采购一架自己一开始并未要求定制、性能有所缩水的战机吗？这还有待观察。但在上周国家湾区的空军协会年度大会开幕致辞中，空军代理秘书长埃里克•范宁谈到，未来数年，随着美军从延续十年之久的海外冲突中逐步抽调回国，空军需要加强对“经济实惠并容易负担的（战机）”的关注。

    不管怎么说，在全球各国军方纷纷开始关注造价低廉的技术的情况下，美国国防部也只是一个客户而已。本周二，德士隆发言人西尔维斯特在这届大会上表示：“过去几天里，到‘天蝎座’的展台来参观的人一直络绎不绝。空军协会不是光为美国空军服务的，这届大会有来自世界各地的空军，其中有几支已和我们进行了初步洽谈。”（财富中文网）

    译者：清远 

    Textron can get away with this by building the Scorpion to its own specs rather than the DoD's, taking guidance from those more routine missions that eat up most of a military air wing's flight hours. The U.S. Department of Defense has not asked for a less-expensive tactical fighter jet; nor has any foreign air force, but recognizing this need for a less-expensive alternative to top-of-the-line fighters Textron has leveraged the extensive jet aircraft engineering know-how in its Cessna division to create an aircraft that is mil-spec where it needs to be -- in the airframe, in the cockpit instruments, in the ejector seat and glass canopy -- and that employs commercial off-the-shelf technologies elsewhere.

    The result (on paper anyhow) is a pretty capable little jet that tops 500 miles per hour at the high end and can stay aloft for five hours at a time on a range of low-intensity missions ranging from ISR to light combat or strike. Honeywell (HON) jet engines provide the thrust (as well as ample power for a 3,000-pound ISR or weapons payload), and avionics stalwart Cobham will provide tried and tested cockpit technology.

    So while Scorpion is a brand new, clean-sheet aircraft design, Textron isn't trying to reinvent most of the critical components of the aircraft. That's not only allowed the company to save tremendously on development and manufacturing costs, but to produce a wholly new fighter jet in just two years and without any government funding -- a tacit impossibility under the Pentagon's traditional aircraft procurement process.

    But will the U.S. Air Force and DoD be interested in purchasing a less-capable fighter jet that it didn't ask for in the first place? That remains to be seen, but in his remarks opening the AFA confab in National Harbor last week, Acting Secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning spoke of the need to focus on what's "affordable and sustainable" in the coming years as forces draw down from a decade of overseas conflict.

    And anyhow, the U.S. Department of Defense is just one customer in a world full of militaries looking for technology on the cheap. "There's been very steady traffic in the Scorpion exhibit over the past few days," says Textron's Sylvestre, speaking from the Air Force Association convention on Tuesday, "AFA isn't just for the U.S. Air Force, there are Air Forces from all over the world here, and several have stopped by to talk about it."