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Posted on 06/25/2026 4:12:16 AM PDT by texas booster
Newly released satellite images show China has built a replica of a U.S. Navy destroyer at a remote missile-testing site in the Taklamakan Desert.
The image, captured in May 2026 and released Wednesday, shows a structure resembling an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer at a test range in Xinjiang. The ship appears to mirror a destroyer currently used by the U.S. Seventh Fleet, which operates in the Western Pacific and waters surrounding Taiwan.
Joseph Wu, co-founder of the Taiwan Defense Studies Initiative, first identified the structure.
Debris from what appeared to be earlier missile tests was visible around the mock ship. Based on the available information, analysts assessed that the replicas are being used as targets for China’s military as it tests new anti-ship weapons.
The discovery comes with increased military activity and rising tensions around Taiwan.
Earlier this month, Taiwan test-fired dozens of practice rockets from U.S.-supplied HIMARS launchers into the Taiwan Strait during a drill simulating a Chinese invasion. It was Taiwan’s first live-fire exercise of that kind on the coast facing China.
(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...
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The latest discovery is not the first time satellite images have shown China building targets resembling U.S. military assets. In 2021, the U.S. Naval Institute reported that two similar destroyer models and an aircraft carrier had been seen at a testing range in the southeastern portion of the Taklamakan Desert near Ruoqiang.
Replicas of U.S. airfields and Taiwanese roads have also appeared in desert testing areas over the years.
Neither China’s Defense Ministry nor the U.S. Department of War responded to requests for comment.
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From The Daily Wire.
And this is what generated the article, and the concern:
Couldn’t we, the U.S., do the same thing for a mockup of a Chinese ship & make sure they see it?
Couldn’t we, the U.S., do the same thing for a mockup of a Chinese ship & make sure they see it?
Honestly this is not that big a deal, if I were building a military, I would choose practice targets considered to be the most capable to practice against.
I get the political look of it but honestly the practical side it... just makes sense.
What a stupid waste of resources. You’re missile is either accurate or it’s not. Doesn’t matter the shape of the target.
We should make videos of our precision weapons blowing up cardboard cutouts of Xi.
Big US\Chinese war just on the horizon it looks like... A WW2 style barn burning Navy war... Who will win?
Nothing from the American Institute in Taiwan? The US “de facto” Embassy in Taipei? Must not be that big of a deal or someone doesn’t want to tick off China by mentioning AIT.
I guess this means they no longer feel threatened by the Vatican Armada.
World war one hundred eleven is on the way.
World war one hundred eleven is on the way.
China’s doing it for effect to try to send a message. They want us to see this.
https://www.cpf.navy.mil/Newsroom/News/Article/4465055/us-pacific-fleet-announces-30th-rimpac-exercise/
“What a stupid waste of resources. You’re missile is either accurate or it’s not. Doesn’t matter the shape of the target.”
The closer the missile gets to an electronically defended target the worse its accuracy gets. Because every flying thing is a tradeoff between range and payload the payload needs to be as small as possible to do the job. Therefore, the missile must be as accurate as possible.
The target is maneuvering. The missile must be set to a region where the target is believed to be. All the inertial guidance can do is get it close. Then jamming will befuddle most terminal guidance. An AI optical system takes over. You have train that system to recognize the target from any angle. Hence, the model in the desert.
They are practicing against templates of their enemy? This is my shocked face.
I agree. You wouldn't build a ship-specific missile anyway, but if you're going to mock up a target, why not mock up one that your adversary uses?
Bill Clinton probably gave them the plans to build one when he gave them the plans to make warheads for rockets that can launch multiple bombs from one shoot.
As the model appears to be in one piece, should we consider the tests failures?
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