乔常驻布鲁塞尔，专注于欧洲政治与防御。他曾报道乌克兰战争及其和平谈判，并从华盛顿特区报道了美国大选格林威治时间上午6点自北约启动该联盟的第五条共同防御条款以来，已经过去了四个小时。
Joe is based in Brussels, where he focuses on European politics and defence. He has covered the Ukraine war and its peace negotiations and reported on US elections from Washington DC 6:00am GMT It’s been four hours since Nato invoked the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defence clause.
敌方部队越过国际边界，向波罗的海三国发动了三路装甲突击。主要进攻轴心向南穿过立陶宛，同时两支辅助进攻部队分别切入拉脱维亚和爱沙尼亚。
An enemy force has made a three-pronged armoured thrust over international borders and into the three Baltic states. The main axis of advance is headed south through Lithuania, while two supporting efforts cut through Latvia and Estonia.
北约最高将领已接到命令：迟滞、击溃并击退入侵，恢复现状。这种渗透绝不能、也无法变成永久性的。当然，这里展开的场景是假设的。
Nato’s top general has been given his orders: blunt, break and repel the invasion, restoring the status quo. The penetration must not, and cannot, become permanent. The scenario unfolding here is, of course, notional.
但这并没有减少聚集在拉脱维亚首都里加东北部阿达齐军事基地的军事领导人们所面临的艰巨感。
But that doesn’t make it any less daunting for the military leaders gathered at Ādaži military base, just north-east of Riga, the Latvian capital.
他们已经决定，北约不能再花数年时间来发展防卫该联盟领土的能力。
They have decided that Nato can no longer spend years developing capabilities to defend the alliance’s territories.
乌克兰和伊朗的战争已经证明，技术和战略可以在几个月、几周、几天甚至几小时内发生改变。
The wars in Ukraine and Iran have proven technologies and strategies can change in months, weeks, days, even hours.
负责监督该联盟结构与能力的北约盟军转型司令部已被委以跟上最新军事演变的任务。
Nato’s Allied Command Transformation, which oversees the alliance’s structure and capabilities, has been tasked with keeping up with the latest military evolutions.
北约盟军转型最高司令皮埃尔·旺迪耶海军上将警告称：“事实上，这是一场竞赛。”
Adml Pierre Vandier, Nato’s supreme allied commander transformation, warned: “In fact, it’s a race.
“每一个关注乌克兰战争以及双方发生的事情的人，都在利用这些来发展他们自己的东西。”
“Everybody that is looking at the war in Ukraine and what happens on both sides is using that to develop their own stuff.
“中国正在关注着所发生的一切……这就是我们需要加入这场竞赛的原因。”
“China is watching what’s going on … and that’s why we need to be in this race.”
这场被称为演习或实验的活动，将检验该联盟能否适应现代战争的严苛要求。前线正遭到争夺。天空充斥着无人机。
The exercise, or experiment as it has been labelled, will test whether the alliance can adapt to the rigours of modern warfare. The frontline is contested. The sky is saturated with drones.
展示的三项新计划包括：北约的数字主干网、多层反无人机倡议以及下一代目标定位。
On display are three new programmes: Nato’s digital backbone, the layered counter-drone initiative and next generation targeting.
简而言之，它们在武装袭击初期的危机中，负责连接、保卫该联盟的部队并帮助其做出更快的决策。
In short, they connect, defend and help the alliance’s forces make faster decisions during the initial crisis of an armed attack.
在战场边缘，巨大的屏幕上闪烁着一个亮红色的箭头，显示着被称为“红军”（也可轻易被视为俄罗斯）的对手就在200公里外。敌军正以最快的速度向一个重点目标冲锋：里加国际机场。
On the edge of the battlefield, huge screens flash up with a bright red arrow showing the adversary – known as the “Red Team, but it could easily have been Russia – is just 200km away. Enemy forces are charging, as fast as they can, towards a priority target: Riga’s international airport.
随着重型装甲机动到位并构筑防线，远处隐约传来六辆“豹”2主战坦克的轰鸣引擎声。
The rumbling engines of six Leopard 2 battle tanks can be heard in the distance as the heavy armour manoeuvres into position to form a defensive line.
“豹”2主战坦克的重型装甲构成了抵御汹涌敌军的第一道防线。如果这些防线被攻破，北约可能就会输掉争夺拉脱维亚的战斗。
The heavy armour of Leopard 2 battle tanks form the first line of defence against the onrushing enemy If these defences rupture, Nato will have potentially lost the fight for Latvia.
但很快，二十多架第一人称视角的无人机掠过防线后方，降落在前沿作战基地上。
But soon, two dozen first-person view drones swoop in behind the line and descend on the forward operating base.
来自一系列传感器、雷达以及一艘监控战场的飞艇的信息，正以闪电般的速度传回指挥软件。态势感知地图更新了，出现了微小的红色方块，并且分配了目标。
Information from an array of sensors, radars and an airship monitoring the battlefield is travelling at lightning speed back into the command software. The situational awareness map is updated, tiny red squares appear, and targets are assigned.
一台搭载0.50口径机枪的机器人向敌方无人机方向倾泻了一排子弹。
A robotic .50-calibre machine gun unleashes a volley of bullets in the direction of the enemy drones.
这些无人一部分由人类操纵，另一部分由人工智能控制，它们躲避着袭来的火力，并分成了两个较小的攻击编队。第二层无人机防御系统被部署。装有天线的几个小盒子向空中发射了无形的电磁波。
The unmanned aerial vehicles, some piloted by humans, the others controlled by AI, dodge the incoming fire and break off into two smaller attack formations. The next layer of drone defences is deployed. Small boxes fitted with antennas send invisible electromagnetic waves into the sky.
随着与敌方飞行员的连接被干扰、飞控系统被烧毁，无人机进入了紧急模式，在迅速飞越干扰云层上方后返回基地。
As the connections with the enemy pilots are scrambled and flight controllers fried, the drones enter an emergency mode, rapidly climbing above the jamming cloud before returning to base.
虽然这些无人机可能没有被摧毁，但它们仅花费了区区几发子弹的代价，就被阻止执行其致命的任务。
While the drones may not have been destroyed, they had been prevented from carrying out their deadly missions at the cost of little more than a few bullets.
当无人机在头顶嗡嗡作响时，友方无人地面车辆正在战场上飞驰，为与敌人交战的部队补给物资。
All while the drones were whirring overhead, friendly unmanned ground vehicles were whizzing across the battlefield to resupply units engaged in the fight with the enemy.
无人车辆被用于向前线部队补给 对于旺迪耶上将而言，北约既能防御无人机，又能在充斥着致命空中武器的环境中执行任务，这一点至关重要。
Unmanned vehicles are used to resupply front line units For Adml Vandier, Nato’s ability to defend against drones, but also still carry out tasks in an environment saturated with deadly airborne weaponry, is critical.
无人机已取代火炮或地雷等传统系统，成为乌克兰和俄罗斯军队最大的杀手。
Drones have supplanted legacy systems, such as artillery or landmines, to become the largest killer for both Ukrainian and Russian troops.
“今天，如果我们在未来几年或几个月内与俄罗斯发生接触，我们将如何应对数百万架无人机，”这位法国四星上将说。“我们需要为此做好准备。”
“Today, if we come into contact with Russia, let’s say in the following years or months, how will we deal with millions of drones,” the four-star French admiral said. “We need to be ready for that.”
他呼吁北约军队的“机器人化”水平要“以光速提升”，以更好地保护部队免受无人机威胁。而在战场上，这种威胁再次出现。
He called for the level of “robotisation” in Nato armies to be “ramped up at the speed of light” to better protect them from the threat of drones. And on the battlefield, that threat emerged once again.
这一次，可以听到伊朗制“见证者”无人机特有的声音从远处传来。屏幕上显示着这架无人机的实时画面。
This time, the distinctive sound of an Iranian-style Shahed drone can be heard in the distance. A live feed of the UAV is shown on the screen.
一架涂成亮粉色的友方拦截无人机以约250英里/小时的速度升空，在敌机造成破坏前将其猎杀。
A friendly interceptor drone, painted bright pink, is sent into the sky at some 250mph to hunt down the enemy before it can inflict any damage.
拦截无人机的任务是猎杀致命的“见证者” 这架拦截机由自动化系统驾驶，沿着由北约网络收集并广播的数据设定的飞行路径飞行。拦截成功，但第二架敌方无人机迅速俯冲过战场。
Interceptor drones are tasked with hunting and destroying deadly Shaheds The interceptor is being flown by an automated system, following a flight path set by data collected and broadcast around the Nato network. It’s a hit, but a second enemy drone quickly swoops over the battlefield.
第二架拦截机被派出，由人类飞行员驾驶，其摄像头将追击画面实时传回地面指挥官处。
A second interceptor is dispatched, flown by a human pilot, its video camera beaming the hunt to the commanders on the ground.
就在这场空中追逐即将结束时，画面突然变黑。远处传来一声爆炸，两架无人机在一团黑烟中消失，粉碎的碎片如雨点般落下。在第三架敌方无人机出现前，决定从“钝化”转为“突破”。
Just as the aerial chase nears completion, the feed goes blank. There is a distant explosion and both drones vanish in a bloom of black smoke before pulverised debris rains down. Before a third enemy drone can appear, the decision is taken to move from “blunt” to “break”.
在北约的防御教条中，切断敌方供应链或指挥中心的决定被视为阻止进攻的最后一步。
In Nato’s defence doctrine, the decision to break the enemy’s supply chains or command centres is seen as the final step to halting an offensive.
面对进一步的无人机袭击，人工智能驱动的目标选择系统已经挑选出一个潜在目标和一个旨在实现这一目的的打击编组。
Faced with further drone attacks, AI-powered targeting has selected a potential objective and a strike package to do just that.
在60秒内，智能系统对现有情报进行筛选，选择合适的武器，并制定出一个供旺迪埃海军上将（Adml Vandier）批准的计划。
Within 60 seconds, smart systems sift the available intelligence, select suitable weapons and create a plan for Adml Vandier to sign off.
打击任务于11点12分下达，在这一分钟结束前，指挥官批准了该计划，位于实地深处的北约无人机部队执行了打击。
The strike tasking was issued at 11:12 and before the minute was up, the commander gave the go-ahead and the Nato drone unit deep in the field executed the strike.
类似的系统已经存在。但在该联盟内部，正在使用的是大量不同的选项，而这些选项并非设计用于互相通信。
Similar systems already exist. But there are a multitude of different options, which aren’t designed to talk to each other, in use across the alliance.
负责北约变革的皮埃尔·旺迪埃海军上将（Adml Pierre Vandier）呼吁以“光速”“加大”对“机器人化”的投入。为了实现“下一代目标定位”，北约开发人员着手利用人工智能代理，寻找将各国各种目标定位平台连接在一起的方法。
Adml Pierre Vandier, head of Nato’s transformation, has called for ‘robotisation’ to be ‘ramped up at the speed of light’ For Next Generation Targeting, Nato developers set about using AI agents to find a way to link various national targeting platforms together.
一名北约官员表示：“我们着手了解如何才能潜在地使用像人工智能这样新的工具、系统和技术，来帮助我们的操作员做出更明智的决定。”
“We set out to understand how we can potentially use new tools, systems and technologies, like AI, to help our operators to form better informed decisions,” a Nato official said.
人工智能代理在不同的国家目标定位应用程序之间建立了通信桥梁，以确保每支作战部队都拥有相同的态势感知。
The AI agents created communication bridges between different national targeting applications to ensure every fighting force has the same situational awareness.
这位官员补充道：“否则，我们的处境就会和艾森豪威尔当年派部队去诺曼底进行首次实地演练时一样。”
“Otherwise, we are in the same position that Eisenhower was in when he sent some troops to Normandy for the first test run.
“他们朝自己人开枪，”这位官员补充说。“如果我们无法看到相同的情况，这就是最终的后果。”与此同时，战斗仍在战场上继续。
“They shot their own people,” the official added. “That’s the ultimate consequence if we cannot see the same thing.”Meanwhile, the fight continues on the battlefield.
在各种无人机、传感器、雷达甚至高空飞艇的提供下，地图在屏幕上闪现，并配有实时画面。
Fed by an array of drones, sensors, radar and even an airship high in the sky above, maps flash up on screens illustrated with live pictures.
就像下棋一样，各部队的棋子都被标绘出来，供指挥官仔细选择他们的下一步行动。
Like a chessboard, each force’s pieces are plotted for the commanders to choose their next moves carefully.
人工智能分析计划中的行动和实时威胁，得出评分，评估可能的决策将如何影响战斗。
Planned moves and real-time threats are analysed by AI, producing scores which rate how possible decisions could impact the fight.
该系统提出，应将资源转向一支正向里加机场逼近的敌方装甲集群。
The system has proposed redirecting resources towards an advancing enemy armour formation closing in on Riga airport.
震撼肋骨的爆炸打破了短暂的寂静。坦克炮弹和.50口径机枪发射的明亮橙色曳光弹划过战场。
Rib-cage rattling explosions break a brief silence. Tank shells and bright orange tracer rounds fired by .50-calibre machine guns rip across the battlefield.
F-16战斗机轰鸣着掠过头顶，在低垂的云层中几乎看不见。装甲部队被击败，和平暂时恢复。
F-16 fighter jets thunder overhead, barely visible through the low-lying clouds. The armour is defeated and peace is restored, for now.
被派去打击敌方工厂的无人机传输已中断，战斗损伤评估可以下达了。
The feed from the drone sent to strike the enemy factory has been cut and the battle damage assessment can be passed down.
对自己的资产遭遇了什么不确定，但参与实验的军事官员和文职官员仍然充满信心。
Unsure of what has happened to their asset, the military officers and civilian officials behind the experiment remain confident.
对他们来说，现在失败是可以接受的，但前提是这能帮助他们为即将到来的真正战斗进行适应和演变。
For them, failure now is acceptable, but only if it helps them adapt and evolve for the real fight ahead.
现在，由范迪尔上将来说服北约同僚，认为是时候修订他们作战计划了。
It is now up to Adml Vandier to convince his peers in Nato that it is now time to overhaul the plans for how they would fight a war.
“两年来，盟友之间就乌克兰战争的现实进行了激烈辩论，”他对《每日电讯报》说。
“For two years, we had a strong debate amongst allies on the reality of war in Ukraine,” he told The Telegraph.
“许多国家说，我们的军队不同，我们的规则不同，我们有F-35[攻击战斗机]，我们有爱国者[拦截导弹]，我们有很多东西，所以这不是我们应该汲取教训的战争。
“We had a lot of countries saying we have a different military, we have different rules, we have F-35 [strike fighters], we have Patriots [interceptor missiles], we have a lot of things, so this is not a war we should take lessons from.
“今天，史诗般的愤怒演习显示，在海湾国家一方，发生了一些事情，你们需要改变。”
“Today, Epic Fury has shown that on the Gulf states’ side something has happened and you need to change.”