Beijing tests new ballistic missiles against replicas of US warships

The Chinese military has built full-size US warship targets, including an aircraft carrier, to test the effectiveness of their ballistic missiles. The test area is located in the Taklamakan Desert, in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, used for testing this type of missile. In a report by the US Naval Institute (Usni News), which is based on satellite images made by the specialist company Maxar, we read that the construction of the structure seems to have started between March and April 2019 and “substantially completed. by the beginning of October “of this year. The targets, not only for their 1: 1 scale, are sophisticated and indicate Beijing’s interest in developing the technology needed to counter the power of the US Navy’s strike groups. Both the Pentagon and the Chinese Defense Ministry, contacted by Fox News, declined to comment. The Usni News report also reads that among the targets it is possible to distinguish the shapes of an aircraft carrier and at least two Arleigh Burke class destroyers. Usni News, citing the intelligence company All Source Analysis, reports that the military complex in the desert of Taklamakan was used in the past for ballistic missile tests. There is also an extensive rail system at the site, indicating that the structures used as targets are capable of moving. The news of the discovery of the military site in Xinjiang comes at a time of great tension between Beijing and Washington over the Taiwan issue. According to data provided by the US Navy, the United States has 11 naval attack groups. These formations usually consist of an aircraft carrier, two missile cruisers, two anti-aircraft ships, and one or two destroyers. Last year, in an exercise in the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian Pasdarans also used a fake aircraft carrier as a target. Also in 2020, China carried out the first test of the DF-21 anti-ship ballistic missile in the South China Sea.