China has built a US fleet in the desert to practice missile strikes

The US Navy Institute has published satellite images of full-size mockups of the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier and the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built in the Taklamakan Desert in central China.

The place where the "American fleet" appeared is located next to the test site where the PLA tested early versions of DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missiles. The images show that China continues to pay special attention to the fight against aircraft carriers and attack ships. Moreover, unlike another "US aircraft carrier" built by the Iranian Navy in the Persian Gulf, the Chinese model is well equipped with measuring equipment.

One of the objects seen from the satellite looks like the deck of an aircraft carrier without an "island" and other details. Others look detailed mock-ups of warships, including mobile ones - one platform is mounted on rails with a six-meter gauge.

Comparing satellite images over the past few years, USNI experts concluded that the "fleet" appeared in the Chinese desert in 2019, and then was significantly rebuilt several times. The layouts are surrounded by tall masts. They can be used to place recording devices or reflectors that simulate the superstructure of a ship.

This is not the first "US aircraft carrier" exposed in the middle of China. In 2003, the PLA built a concrete platform the size of the deck of a Nimitz-class ship and repeatedly practiced missile strikes on it. But the new targets are much more like the ships they depict.

Anton Valagin