How Stealthy Is Navy’s New Destroyer? It Needs Reflectors
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BATH, Maine — The future USS Zumwalt is so stealthy that it’ll go to sea with reflective material that can be hoisted to make it more visible to other ships.

The Navy destroyer is designed to look like a much smaller vessel on radar, and it lived up to its billing during recent builder trials.

Lawrence Pye, a lobsterman, told The Associated Press that on his radar screen the 610-foot ship looked like a 40- to 50-foot fishing boat. He watched as the behemoth came within a half-mile while returning to shipbuilder Bath Iron Works.

“It’s pretty mammoth when it’s that close to you,” Pye said.

Despite its size, the warship is 50 times harder to detect than current destroyers thanks to its angular shape and other design features, and its stealth could improve even more once testing equipment is removed, said Capt. James Downey, program manager.

During sea trials last month, the Navy tested Zumwalt’s radar signature with and without reflective material hoisted on its halyard, he said. The goal was to get a better idea of exactly how stealthy the ship really is, Downey said from Washington, D.C.

The reflectors, which look like metal cylinders, have been used on other warships and will be standard issue on the Zumwalt and two sister ships for times when stealth becomes a liability and they want to be visible on radar, like times of fog or heavy ship traffic, he said.

The possibility of a collision is remote. The Zumwalt has sophisticated radar to detect vessels from miles away, allowing plenty of time for evasive action.

But there is a concern that civilian mariners might not see it during bad weather or at night, and the reflective material could save them from being startled.

The destroyer is unlike anything ever built for the Navy.

Besides a shape designed to deflect enemy radar, it features a wave-piercing “tumblehome” hull, composite deckhouse, electric propulsion and new guns.

More tests will be conducted when the ship returns to sea later this month for final trials before being delivered to the Navy. The warship is due to be commissioned in October in Baltimore, and will undergo more testing before becoming fully operational in 2018.

驅逐艦「朱瓦特號」 隱形功夫了得

美國海軍即將出廠的新型隱形驅逐艦「朱瓦特號」 (Zumwalt)，由於匿蹤能力強大，很難被雷達偵測，最近在進行出廠前的海上測試時，甚至基於航行安全，還必須加裝反射器，以避免該艦在雷達顯示幕出現的回跡過小。

一名在海上捕撈龍蝦的漁民說，在朱瓦特艦結束海上測試，返回造船廠期間，航行到距離他的漁船只有半哩時，在他船上雷達看到的這艘610 呎長的軍艦，就像一艘40到50呎長的小漁船。

軍艦建造計畫主任唐尼表示，儘管軍艦的體積大，但與目前的驅逐艦相比，被發現的難度卻增加了50倍。

因為軍艦的角度形狀和其他設計上都做出改善，在艦上的海試設備取下後，軍艦的隱形效果更好。

在上月的海試過程中，海軍測試了朱瓦特艦被雷達發現的可能性，包括在安裝和沒有安裝反射器的兩種條件下，以便對軍艦的隱形有真正了解。朱瓦特艦及其另外兩艘姊妹艦並不是永遠隱形，在大霧天航行或是在船隻密集的航道，為了避免發生撞船事故，軍艦就要讓其他船隻在雷達上清楚掌握他們的船位。

朱瓦特艦的雷達系統極為先進，可在數哩外發現其他船隻，因此有足夠的時間做出 避碰動作，以免相撞。不過，仍令人擔憂的是商船在海象惡劣或是夜間航行時，可能根本看不到隱形軍艦。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/04/10/us/ap-us-stealth-destroyer-too-stealthy.html

2016-04-12 世界日報 編譯孫梁