Beijing: The Chinese military has built mockup in the form of US Navy aircraft and other US warships, perhaps as a training target, in the desert Xinjiang, satellite images by Maxar showed on Sunday.
This mockup reflects China’s efforts to build anti-operator capabilities, especially against the US Navy, because tension remains high with Washington over Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Satellite images show a full-scale outline of US operators and at least two Burke-Class Arleigh missile destroyers have been built on what seems to be a complex range of new targets in the desert.
This complex has been used for testing ballistic missiles, US naval institutions report, citing geospatial intelligence companies all source analysis.
China’s anti-ship missile program is supervised by Force Rocket People’s Liberation Force (PLARF).
The Chinese Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a comment request immediately.
According to the latest Annual Annual Report on the Chinese military, the PLARF launched the first Live-Fire confirmed to the South China Sea in July 2020, firing six anti-ship ballistic missiles DF-21 to the northern waters of the Spratly Islands, where China has a territorial dispute with Taiwan and four Southeast Asian countries.
US Secretary Antony Blinken said in July this year that the United States will defend the Philippines if attacked in the South China Sea and warn China to stop “provocative behavior”.