VOA标准英语2009年-Iran Claims to Build Long-Distance Unmanned Air

A top Iranian defense¹ official says Tehran has built an unmanned surveillance aircraft with a range of more than 950 kilometers. The claim, if true, would put the drone within range of Israel.

Iran's Deputy Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi has told the semi-official Fars news agency his country has succeeded in building an unmanned aircraft.

This is not the first time Iran has claimed to have built a drone aircraft, but Iranian officials have never before indicated the range capability² of such aircraft.

Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah claimed, several years ago, to possess an unmanned drone, capable of reaching Israel, but photos of the drone proved to be little more than a slightly larger than normal model aircraft.

Iran also showed grainy footage, in 2006, of what it said was an Iranian-built unmanned aircraft, circling the USS Ronald Reagan in the Persian Gulf³. A number of military experts said the footage, however, was "faked."

Internationally recognized, London-based security expert Bob Ayers thinks the ability to build a drone is quite "trivial," unless the equipment on board is high-tech⁴.

"Drones are really nothing more than small aircraft and they are usually remote-controlled, some sort of radio control, some can be pre-programmed, they have onboard computer systems. That tends to be the bigger ones. The smaller ones are easier to make. They are easy to control. Radio-controlled model aircraft have been around for 40 years with the hobbyists," said Ayers.

"The thing that makes a drone valuable is the electronics on board. What has it got on? Has it got a camera on it? Is it taking pictures? Are the pictures down-linked? Is it real time? Do they take pictures with a camera, then have to develop the film? So, the drone itself is fundamentally trivial," he added. "It is the payload that makes it either important or unimportant."

Iran expert Ali Nourizadeh of the London-based Center for Arab And Iranian Studies says the Iranian leadership likes to make exaggerated claims to give the impression their country is a superpower.

"Since 1999, I have been gathering⁵ all the statements issued by the Iranian Defense Ministry⁶ officials, as well as the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian Army, about their achievements, and if I believe what they say, then we should say that Iran is the strongest superpower in the world," he said. "I think that every day they come up with the idea of new weapons and then when we dig and search, we found out it is the same missile, they have just changed a little part of it. So therefore, although Iran has achieved in certain areas, you know, some fascinating achievement, but as far as strategic weapons are concerned they are not that much advanced, and the aircraft you are talking about is also modification⁷ of some of the aircraft they had."

Iran sent shivers in Western defense circles, several weeks ago, when it launched a domestically-built satellite into space on a multi-stage rocket. That rocket, when adapted for military purposes, could also be used to launch long-range ballistic missiles, capable of hitting Europe and possibly more distant targets.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 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。

3 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。

4 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

5 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 modification   

n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻

参考例句：

• The law,in its present form,is unjust;it needs modification.现行的法律是不公正的，它需要修改。
• The design requires considerable modification.这个设计需要作大的修改。