China Uses Fake U.S. Aircraft Carrier for Missile Target Practice
- Mock-up carrier, destroyers spotted at facility in Xinjiang
- Satellite images also show pair of targets mounted on rails
This article is for subscribers only.
The Chinese military is using mock-ups of a U.S. aircraft carrier at a weapons-testing range in a remote western desert, new satellite imagery shows, indicating the People’s Liberation Army is focused on neutralizing a key tool of U.S. power.
Satellite images depict targets in the shape of a carrier and two Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers at a testing facility in the Ruoqiang area of Xinjiang’s Taklamakan desert, the news website of the U.S. Naval Institute reported. Both types of vessels are deployed by the U.S. Seventh Fleet, which patrols the Western Pacific including the waters around Taiwan.