国家地理:Wings Over The Gulf 波湾战机 - 3

(There's also a piece of safety wire that, em, showed up on the X-ray. So we have to...)
In fact just the opposite proved true, the number of air planes ready to fly at any given time actually increased during the war. F-15s went from an 85 percent peacetime mission capable rate to a wartime average of 94 percent. A hard work of fly crews made it possible for pilots to fly constant defensive¹ counter-air patrols along the boarder of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, the goal was to test Iraq's air defenses and readiness of Iraqi pilots.

Defensive counter-air is basically flying combat air patrols, orbits, south of the border so that on one leg, the hot leg, you're looking into Iraq to see if they've got anybody taking off to come south to do an invasion and we flew those missions for the 5-month waiting about four and half to six hours at a pop because anytime they fly we'd, we'd lock them up, they knew we were up there and they were getting that radar² spike³ that told them that F-15s were looking at them and if they wanted to try anything they were welcome to come south.

Jan 17th, 1991, in the early hours of the morning, 668 aircraft and their pilots geared up for the first air attack on Iraq and occupied Kuwait.
The first night was probably the most impressive because even though they had practiced drills in the Baghdad area where they would turn all the lights out, if they would, if they did get attacked, they didn't when they got attacked, and it was like flying in the Philadelphia or some place totally lit up, and you could see the Tigris and Euphrates as they went on to approach Baghdad.

No doubt the first night was fairly impressive, and what was really unique about that for me was as we let down into a lowland one, we flew first 250 miles or so in the Iraq at a low altitude and so absolutely nothing. It was just like a training mission at Luke or Seymour Johnson or anywhere else until our first bomb hit the ground and there was no doubt at that point that they didn't know where we were, but they knew we were coming, and you cant⁴' prepare somebody for being shot at. I thought I'd been prepared for that, but it was truly an eye-opening experience.

The key element of our overall strategy was to knock down his interceptors before they could interfere⁶ with our operations, the F-15Cs performed beautifully in their role and while the magnitude in the first three days of the war when they controlled the area was really contested by both sides. The Iraqis would take off, they put their gear up and they blew up, that’s because the F-15 with this look-down and shoot-down capability⁷ was able to target them immediately after takeoff. I think that was fundamental to our success in the whole campaign.

The F-15's mission is to intercept⁵ enemy aircraft and protect friendly aircraft in the Gulf⁸ war that meant guarding packages of planes including F-16s which flew bombing raids, F-4G Wild Weasels which knocked out anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles. F-111 long-range fighter bombers⁹ which flew over 4000 sorties in the Gulf, British-built Tornado¹⁰ fighter bombers and B-52s, a long-serving heavy bombers that shelled Iraq's Republican Guard around the clock every day of the war.

1 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

2 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

3 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

4 cant   

n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔

参考例句：

• The ship took on a dangerous cant to port.船只出现向左舷危险倾斜。
• He knows thieves'cant.他懂盗贼的黑话。

5 intercept   

vt.拦截，截住，截击

参考例句：

• His letter was intercepted by the Secret Service.他的信被特工处截获了。
• Gunmen intercepted him on his way to the airport.持枪歹徒在他去机场的路上截击了他。

6 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

7 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

8 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

9 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。