Satellite photos show China built mock-ups of US destroyers and an aircraft carrier in the desert, likely for target practice

• China has built mock-ups of what appear to be US Navy warships in the desert, USNI News reported, citing satellite images.
• The mock-ups are believed to be targets for the Chinese military to practice missile strikes, something it has done before.

The Chinese military has built apparent mock-ups of US warships in the desert, likely for target practice, USNI News reported Sunday, citing Maxar satellite images.

The satellite photos show the full-scale outlines of what looks like a US Navy aircraft carrier and at least two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, in the Ruoqiang area of Xinjiang's Taklamakan desert in northwestern China, an area that has reportedly been used previously for missile strike training.

Aircraft carriers and destroyers assigned to the US Navy's 7th Fleet operate in the Indo-Pacific region and routinely patrol waters near China, sometimes carrying out military exercises, Taiwan Strait transits, or freedom-of-navigation operations that often anger Beijing.

The satellite images, which were collected in late October, also show what appears to be a warship target on a rail system that could move forward and back. The shape of this suspected warship target kind of resembles an amphibious assault ship.

Missiles are routinely tested in remote areas like deserts. Practicing strikes against targets at sea offer more realistic conditions for training missile crews but also run a higher risk of being perceived as provocative.

Though the satellite photos showed no visible impact points, the mock-ups are believed to be for target practice as China has previously used mock-ups of US warships in the desert as targets.

In 2013, for instance, a Taiwan media outlet reported that the Chinese People's Liberation Army "sunk" a US Navy aircraft carrier in the Gobi desert.

That "carrier," however, was a 600-foot concrete slab meant to represent the flight deck of a carrier. The one at the apparent missile range observed in recent satellite photos is much more detailed, and there are sensors in place around some of the mock-ups.

China has a robust ability to conduct missile strikes against an adversary, especially in a regional conflict. Among the assets in the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force arsenal that can target ships are the DF-21D and DF-26 ballistic missiles, weapons sometimes referred to as "carrier killers."

The latest Department of Defense report on China's growing military might says the DF-21D is a medium-range ballistic missile that "gives the PLA the capability to conduct long range precision strikes against ships, including aircraft carriers, out to the Western Pacific from mainland China."

The DF-26 is also a mid-range missile, but it can be used for both strikes against land-based targets and naval vessels. It is unclear exactly how accurate or capable either missile is.

The Pentagon reported that last year, China "fired anti-ship ballistic missiles against a moving target in the South China Sea, but has not acknowledged doing so."

US Navy Adm. Phil Davidson, the former head of Indo-Pacific Command, said earlier this year that the test was clearly intended to "hone PLA warfighting skills and send an unmistakable message to regional and global audiences."

In addition to its anti-ship ballistic missiles, China also has air- and ship-launched anti-ship missiles that could be employed in a combat scenario.

Asked about the reported mock-ups in the desert, a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman told the Associated Press that he was unaware of the situation.