China apparently built full-scale models of American warships.
China apparently built full-scale models of US warships, including an aircraft carrier, that would be potential targets for practicing strikes against some of the most powerful US weapons deployed in the Pacific, satellite images showed.
Naval battle commandos – centered on huge aircraft carriers – are among the most powerful weapons in the American arsenal.
One of them is deployed in the Pacific, where it looks at key areas like Taiwan and the South China Sea.
China has been developing anti-ship missiles for years, including some capable of destroying aircraft carriers.
In satellite images captured last month and sent to AFP On Sunday, huge models of American ships can be seen in the Taklamakan Desert in China’s Xinjiang region.
They include at least one in the form of aircraft carriers and one in the form of a destroyer. One of the targets was seen mounted on rails used to transport it.
Among the full-scale structures were some flat, as well as more sophisticated ones with what appeared to be navigational instruments, according to the US Naval Institute (USNI).
“Analysis of historical satellite images shows that the aircraft carrier model was initially built between March and April 2019,” according to a report from the institute.
“It went through several reconstructions and was almost completely dismantled in December 2019. But the site was used again at the end of September this year and the structure was practically complete by the beginning of October.”
The USNI says that according to intelligence firm AllSource Analysis, the area has been used for ballistic missile testing in the past.
When asked about the images, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday “not being aware of the situation.”
Beijing is advancing a major project to modernize its arsenal, according to a Pentagon report released last week, with many of its weapons designed to help neutralize major US ships in the event of a regional conflict.
The Chinese military has deployed some of its missiles in exercises, which US Navy Admiral Philip Davidson told Congress months ago is “an unequivocal message to the regional and global audience.”
The United States regularly conducts operations in the South China Sea and around Taiwan, annoying Beijing.
China claims almost the entirety of that maritime area as its own and considers Taiwan a part of its territory to be retaken one day, by force if necessary. (I)
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