China Builds Mockups of U.S. Bases and Aircraft Carriers for Taiwan Invasion Drills

It has been revealed that China is conducting military exercises in preparation for a potential Taiwan invasion and U.S. intervention by constructing large-scale, full-size mockups of U.S. destroyers, fighter jets, U.S. military bases in Japan, and Taiwan government buildings in a remote desert.

According to satellite imagery analyzed and reported by the British daily The Telegraph on July 15 (local time), the People's Liberation Army of China began constructing a three-dimensional mockup of a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the Taklamakan Desert in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in February of this year, reaching near completion by May.

The media outlet reported that the mockup was built in the middle of the desert, approximately 2,700 km from the sea, and appears to have been created for missile strike training.

The approximately 75-meter-long structure includes masts and even some radar equipment, just like an actual warship.

The Telegraph reported that China appears to be using these to improve the strike accuracy of its anti-ship ballistic missiles and hypersonic missiles.

In particular, the desert facility features a 37-kilometer-long railway, revealing that China is conducting precision training to hit moving targets by mounting ship-shaped mockups onto rail cars and towing them.

At least two full-size mockups of U.S. Navy Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers are also deployed in the Taklamakan Desert.

In another area, mockups of the U.S. Air Force's main fighter jets—the F-22, F-16, and F-35—along with runways have been constructed.

Traces of destruction from missile tests were also identified on some of the fighter jet mockups.

This indicates that China has been conducting live-fire strike drills using precision-guided munitions and AI-guided systems.

China has also constructed mockups of the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka Naval Base in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and the Su-ao Naval Base in northeastern Taiwan.

Yokosuka Base is the largest overseas base for the U.S. Navy and is expected to be a key location from which forces would deploy in the event of a contingency in Taiwan.

Lu Li-shih, a former lieutenant commander in the Taiwan Navy, explained, "China assumes that the Yokosuka base will inevitably intervene in a Taiwan invasion, so it is conducting anti-access training targeting it."

At the Su-ao Naval Base mockup, traces of damage from live-fire tests were confirmed on parts of the pier and structural models.

The Telegraph reported that China has also recreated the "Bo'ai Special Zone" in Taipei, where the Presidential Office Building, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and judicial institutions are located, at full scale.

Thomas Shugart, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a U.S. think tank, assessed, "It is highly likely that these facilities were built for the purpose of rehearsing actual occupation operations in advance."

The Telegraph reported that China has even constructed an underground tunnel network approximately 280 km long at the desert training site, preparing for scenarios where the Taiwanese leadership might evacuate underground.

Retired Indian Navy Admiral Monty Khanna stated, "While military exercises assuming a specific enemy are not rare, there is no precedent for constructing mockups of this scale for training."

Experts analyzed that these facilities go beyond simple military training and also carry the nature of a strategic message to the United States, Japan, and Taiwan.

Shugart said, "It sends a signal to Japan that 'you will be dragged in if a war breaks out,' a warning to the U.S. that 'we will strike your bases if you intervene,' and a message to Taiwan that 'we are training to occupy your capital.'"

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.