【9月21日看軍聞學英語】

青年日報社
·2 分鐘 (閱讀時間)

■刀客

原文：

USAF plans call for the steady retirement of its aging tankers in favor of the KC-46 Pegasus, despite continuing technical issues with the new tanker.

In its 2021 budget request, the Air Force proposed retiring 13 KC-135 Stratotankers and 16 KC-10 refuelers. However, in both the Senate and House markups of the FY21 NDAA legislation, lawmakers have pushed back the divestment of some legacy tankers.

Lawmakers last month set a minimum requirement of KC-10s: The Air Force must maintain 50 primary mission KC-10A aircraft in FY21; 38 in FY22; and 26 in FY23, according to both House and Senate legislation. The Air Force currently has 59 KC-10s, 56 of which are considered primary mission tankers.

Last week's retirement brings the total aircraft inventory to 58 Extenders.

中譯：

美國空軍要求持續汰除老舊的加油機，俾利進用KC-46「飛馬」，即便這款新式加油機不斷出現技術問題。

空軍在2021財年預算需求書就規劃汰除13架KC-135「同溫層」及16架KC-10加油機；然而，在參眾兩院審定的2021財年國防授權法案，國會議員對某些老舊加油機的汰換均有所推遲。

依參眾兩院立法，國會議員上個月律定了KC-10的最低需求量，要求空軍於2021、2022、2023財年，必須分別維持50、38、26架KC-10A執行主要任務。空軍目前有59架KC-10，其中56架是用來執行主要任務的加油機。

上週汰除了1架，使得「補充者」加油機總存量僅剩58架。

-關鍵軍語-

※NDAA:

National Defense Authorization Act.

※Extender:

An aerial refueling tanker aircraft.

例句：

The KC-10 Extender is designed to provide increased global mobility for U.S. armed forces.

KC-10「補充者」是用來提供美軍增強全球機動性的加油機。