The Thunderbolt is the Imperium's frontline. single-seater, heavy fighter. It is the mainstay of Imperial Navy Fighter wings, a tough, well-armed all-rounder, with good top speed and manoeuvrability, powerful nose mounted armaments and wing hard points for missiles or bombs. It is well liked by its crews and has provided good service for many centuries.

雷霆戰(zhàn)機是人類帝國的前線單座重型戰(zhàn)機，它是帝國海軍戰(zhàn)機聯(lián)隊的中流砥柱，也是一種強韌且裝備精良的全面手，擁有卓越的頂級速度和機動性，安裝在機頭的強悍武備，以及掛裝在機翼下的導彈或炸彈。它深受駕駛員們的喜愛，而且在數(shù)個世紀中一直提供良好服務(wù)。

Durable and dependable in a fight, the Thunderbolts main role is as an air superiority fighter, to seek and engage enemy aircraft in dogfights or hunting enemy bombers to establish air superiority over the battlefield. One of the Thunderbolt's strength is its versatility, with good performance as a high altitude escort fighter or a low level fighter bomber, as a night fighter or even as a reconnaissance aircraft.?

雷霆戰(zhàn)機在戰(zhàn)斗中持久且可靠，其充當?shù)闹饕巧强諆?yōu)戰(zhàn)機，用于在空中纏斗里尋找和對抗敵軍飛行器，或者在戰(zhàn)場上空獵捕敵方轟炸機以建立制空權(quán)。雷霆戰(zhàn)機的優(yōu)勢之一是用途廣泛，無論是作為高空護航戰(zhàn)斗機或低空戰(zhàn)斗轟炸機，還是作為夜間戰(zhàn)斗機甚至是偵查飛行器，它都表現(xiàn)良好。

The Thunderbolts wing hard points can carry bombs, air to surface Hellstrikes missiles or more rarely, air to air missiles. A Thunderbolt can be equipped with fuel tanks to increase the aircraft's range, but as the Thunderbolt already has a long range for a fighter this is not often necessary.?

雷霆戰(zhàn)機的機翼掛載點上能攜帶炸彈、空對地地獄直擊導彈或更罕見的空對空導彈。雷霆戰(zhàn)機也能裝備上（額外的）燃料箱以提升飛行器航程，不過由于雷霆已經(jīng)具備了很長的航程，這通常是沒有必要的。

Quad nose-mounted autocannons and twin-linked lascannons give the Thunderbolt a reputation for packing a big punch for its size. The lascannons are mainly used in the ground attack role to engage enemy vehicles, whilst the autocannons are the weapons of choice for dog fighting and strafing enemy infantry.?

安裝在機鼻部的四管自動炮和雙聯(lián)激光炮讓雷霆因為（能夠）釋放出強悍的進攻火力而著稱——考慮到它的體積的話。激光炮主要用于向敵軍載具發(fā)動對地進攻，自動炮則是空中纏斗和掃射敵軍步兵的武器選擇。

Whilst the Lightning is faster, with better rates of climb and dive, it is also a lighter aircraft, less rugged in design and more demanding of maintenance crews.?

雖然閃電戰(zhàn)機飛行速度更快，也有更好的爬升和俯沖速度，但它也只是輕型飛行器，機體設(shè)計沒那么堅固，對維修人員的要求也更高。

The Thunderbolt, like the Lightning. is equipped with a rocket booster engine. This can be engaged to give the fighter limited operational capability in space. This is only for transport and deployment, not for combat, and Thunderbolts are not true 'star-fighters', a role left to Imperial Furies. The rocket engine allows a Thunderbolt to deploy from a space ship in low planetary orbit into the atmosphere. and can be engaged once the aircraft has reached its atmospheric ceiling with its jet engines to boost the fighter back to its waiting mothership. The rocket engine is also used in fast launch ramp take-offs.

而就像閃電戰(zhàn)機那樣，雷霆戰(zhàn)機也裝備了一臺火箭助推引擎，這可以給予戰(zhàn)機有限的太空作戰(zhàn)能力。但火箭引擎只是用于運輸和部署，而非戰(zhàn)斗；雷霆也并非真正的“星際戰(zhàn)機”——這一角色留給了帝國的狂怒截擊機。火箭引擎允許雷霆戰(zhàn)機從位于行星低軌道中的太空艦船飛入大氣層，而戰(zhàn)機一旦飛回到大氣層頂部，噴射發(fā)動機就會被啟動，將其推回到等待中的母艦上?；鸺嬉材苡糜谄碌揽焖侔l(fā)射起飛。

Imperial Navy wings vary in size considerably. They usually consist of between ten and twenty aircraft although some are much larger. Each fighter wing traditionally takes a nickname, usually some form of flying creature or monster. There are many thousands of wings stationed on Battlefleet space ships, space stations and ground bases across the galaxy.?

帝國海軍飛行聯(lián)隊彼此的規(guī)模差異很大，它們通常都包含十到二十架飛行器，不過某些聯(lián)隊的規(guī)模還要大得多。每支戰(zhàn)機聯(lián)隊傳統(tǒng)上都有個綽號，其通常是某種會飛的生物或怪物。銀河系各處的海軍戰(zhàn)斗艦隊星艦、太空站和地面基地上駐扎著數(shù)千支聯(lián)隊。