VOA标准英语2008年-US Official: Modern Afghan Air Force Is Years A

By Al Pessin
Pentagon
24 January 2008

The American officer responsible for helping¹ develop an Afghan Air Force says the small corps² is growing steadily³, but will not be ready to even begin participating in combat operations for about five years. The officer, Brigadier General Jay Lindell, spoke⁴ from Kabul to reporters at the Pentagon Thursday, and VOA's Al Pessin reports.

Afghanistan's air corps has a total of four airplanes and 16 helicopters, and that is double what it had three months ago.

The aircraft are all old Soviet-or Russian-made models, and the Afghan military pilots are old, too, as pilots go. General Lindell reports their average age is 43. He says they are very experienced on the aircraft they fly, but they do not fly at night or in bad weather, and he says many of the 180 Afghan Army pilots have not flown for years, some for more than a decade.

General Lindell says developing a modern Afghan Air Force will be a long project, involving buying more and newer aircraft and training hundreds of new pilots, starting with English lessons.

"It's not just air frames that we have to acquire, it's obviously the training of the pilots in this close air support role. It's the development of the inter-operation with the Afghan Army," said Lindell. "We're making the plans right now on how we will do that, and we hope to have that capability⁵ developed in the year 13 (2013)."

General Lindell says the Afghan Air Force will be recruiting dozens of new pilots in the coming years, and sending them to the United States for training. While the current pilots fly older aircraft, with nearly 50 more planes and helicopters being purchased from several countries during the next few years, the new recruits will prepare for a leap into high technology aviation.

Current Afghan air operations are limited to transporting troops and supplies. Soon, General Lindell says, the corps will add medical evacuation flights. But he says it will take years to develop the capabilities⁶ needed to contribute directly to combat and counterinsurgency operations.

"Initially⁷, what we envision, it'll be a U.S.-led squadron as we train the Afghans how to do close air support and how to integrate with the ground forces in the close air support mission," he added.

Some Afghan leaders have expressed a desire to move more quickly to air combat operations. But General Lindell says there is now agreement on how to proceed.

He says even when the Afghan Air Force moves into combat, it will use a relatively⁸ simple aircraft, packed with some 21st century technology.

"What we are looking at is a single-engine turbo-prop type aircraft, probably it'll be a two pilot type aircraft," added General Lindell.  "It'll be precision ordnance⁹ capable. It'll have a laser designation capability. And we're also looking for a net-centric type aircraft that will be integrated through data link to other aircraft or a joint¹⁰ information operations center. So we plan to bring this air corps up to date with western technology."

And that means building a new maintenance capability, too. General Lindell says Afghan mechanics maintain the current fleet, but just as the force needs new pilots with modern training, the ground crews need refurbishing too.

The general says the United States will train about 50 new Afghan military pilots per year, starting late next year, and 350 support personnel. Overall, he says, the Afghan Air Force is expected to grow from just under two thousand people today to more than 7,000 over the next eight years, with a total of more than 100 aircraft.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

3 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 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。

6 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 ordnance   

n.大炮，军械

参考例句：

• She worked in an ordnance factory during the war.战争期间她在一家兵工厂工作。
• Shoes and clothing for the army were scarce,ordnance supplies and drugs were scarcer.军队很缺鞋和衣服，武器供应和药品就更少了。

10 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。