These are desert ships of the most unusual kind, which a commercial satellite from Maxar Technologies has discovered in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in north-west China and which the US Naval Institute has reported on in detail. More precisely localised - but not yet identifiable on maps available online - the site is located on the south-eastern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in Ruoqiang Province between Wudule Wusitang and Qakilik. Instead of camels, the pictures there show replicas of warships - American aircraft carriers (FORD class) and destroyers (ARLEIGH BURKE class), some of which can be moved through the remote desert on 6 metre wide tracks. This is where the Chinese People's Liberation Army usually tests ballistic missiles. Some are built in original size, flat but full length and width - others are half scale. As the ships are supposed to be modelled quite realistically in terms of location technology, experts believe that they are targets for such missile tests.
Carrier-Killers
China has been working for years on land-based ballistic weapons designed to sink large ships over long distances. But it should also be possible to launch sea-based ballistic missiles from the large RENHAI-class destroyers - other offensive missile systems being tested are usually fired from long-range bombers. The American military is worried about "carrier killers", which could jeopardise the previously known deployments of large aircraft carriers far off the Chinese coast.
The Chinese arsenal
The most powerful of these weapons, the DF-26 multi-purpose missile with warheads that can be quickly converted from conventional to nuclear, has a range of over 3,500 kilometres. From the Chinese mainland, it can cover a large part of the Western Pacific, the entire South China Sea anyway, and also large parts of the Indian Ocean. The DF-26 can easily reach the main base of the US Seventh Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan.
Weapons tests on the doorstep
China has already tested ballistic anti-ship weapons in the South China Sea, in mid-2019 with six DF-21Ds (1500 kilometres) in the target area north of the Spratly Islands and most recently in mid-2020 with both types, but in a number that exceeds the total number of test/exercise shots of all other nations.
Proving ground in the desert
The fact that tests are also being carried out deep inside the country may seem surprising at first glance, but it makes perfect sense: the Chinese People's Liberation Army is free to close the airspace there at any time. It also does not have to fear that other powers could recover and analyse parts of the tested missiles, as would be entirely possible in international waters.
All in all, bad times for aircraft carriers!
More on the topic here: https://news.usni.org/2021/11/07/china-builds-missile-targets-shaped-like-u-s-aircraft-carrier-destroyers-in-remote-desert
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Bad times... not just for aircraft carriers. Studies on the accuracy of ballistic anti-ship weapons from China prove the danger even for ships the size of a frigate / destroyer (see MF 5/2018, page 30: Uhl/Bahmeier, Die unterschätzte Gefahr).