US Naval Research Lab: China Creates Missile Training Targets Modeled After US Aircraft Carriers

"Discovered in Xinjiang Uyghur Training Area"
"Suspected to be for Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile Training"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) has released satellite images showing that China has constructed a new missile target site modeled after a U.S. aircraft carrier in a training area within the Taklamakan Desert in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. As this target is presumed to be used for live-fire drills of anti-ship ballistic missiles, military tensions between the U.S. and China surrounding the Taiwan Strait are expected to escalate further.

On the 7th (local time), USNI unveiled satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies, a U.S. satellite specialist company, showing a recently built missile target site resembling a U.S. aircraft carrier in a Chinese military training area within the Taklamakan Desert. According to USNI, the training area where the target site was discovered has frequently hosted Chinese military ballistic missile live-fire exercises, and the target appears to be intended for testing anti-ship ballistic missile launches.

USNI noted that the Chinese military first constructed a missile target structure modeled after a U.S. aircraft carrier in March 2019, which was later dismantled, but reconstruction began again around the end of September this year. USNI explained, "China has recently conducted live-fire drills of the Dongfeng (DF)-26 anti-ship ballistic missile in the South China Sea area. This missile can be equipped with both conventional and nuclear warheads," adding, "It is presumed that precision ground strikes as well as training targeting U.S. warships at sea are ongoing."

According to China's state-run Global Times, the DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missile is a medium-range ballistic missile with a range of approximately 4,500 km and is known as one of the weapons China has flaunted as an 'aircraft carrier killer.' When the Chinese military unveiled the DF-26 last year, they boasted that it could reach multiple regions in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, including U.S. military bases located in Guam, and could strike moving warships at sea.

China's focus on making U.S. aircraft carriers the target for anti-ship ballistic missile drills is interpreted as a response to the military tensions surrounding the Taiwan Strait. According to CNN, Jake Sullivan, White House National Security Advisor, stated in an interview with CNN on the same day, "The United States is concerned about China's actions that significantly destabilize cross-strait relations," emphasizing, "The United States has a responsibility under the Taiwan Relations Act to help Taiwan defend itself."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.