Recent satellite images show the Chinese military erected mock-ups of a US Navy aircraft carrier and a naval destroyer in its northwestern desert. The mock-ups stood on 6-meter-wide rail tracks. The mock-ups were identified as being modeled after a “Ford-class” carrier that is currently under construction and at least two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers. The rail system would allow the mock-ups to be moved, simulating moving vessels.
The images were captured by Colorado-based satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies on Sunday in Ruoqiang, a Taklamakan Desert county in the northwestern Xinjiang region. The site has been used before for ballistic missile tests.
The independent U.S. Naval Institute(USNI) said on its website that the mock-ups of US ships were part of a new target range developed by the People’s Liberation Army.
“This new range shows that China continues to focus on anti-carrier capabilities, with an emphasis on US Navy warships,” USNI reported.
Pentagon press secretary John F. Kirby responded to the report at a press conference on Monday.
“What we’re concerned about … is the increasing intimidation and coercive behavior of the Chinese military in the Indo-Pacific, and also the coercive tactics they’re using, even using economic tools around the world to bend other nations to their will or to their view of what’s in their best interest,” Kirby said.
“We’re focused on developing the capabilities, the operational concepts, making sure we have the resources and the right strategy in place so that we can deal with (China) as the No. 1 pacing challenge.”
China’s military is a source of growing concern. The Pentagon released a report this month claiming that China is expanding its nuclear force much faster than predicted just a year ago. This nuclear program appears designed to enable Beijing to match or surpass U.S. global power by mid-century, the report said.
“The PLA’s evolving capabilities and concepts continue to strengthen (China’s) ability to ‘fight and win wars’ against a ‘strong enemy’ — a likely euphemism for the United States,” the report said.
In 2020 alone, the People’s Liberation Army launched more than 250 ballistic missiles for testing and training — “more than the rest of the world combined,” according to the Pentagon. In August 2020, China launched a series of tests involving DF-21D and DF-26 missiles which are touted in the Chinese media as ‘aircraft carrier killers.’
Last month, China surprised US military experts when it tested a hypersonic missile that is capable of carrying a nuclear payload.
