The images captured show the outlines of a U.S. aircraft carrier and at least one destroyer sitting on a railway track.
By Jim W. Dean,
…from Politico
[ Editor’s Note: China may be showing that ‘practice makes perfect’, in terms of training procedures needed to test weaknesses in its weapons systems needed to defend against the US large and highly experienced naval capacity and technology.
The mock up could be being used to test the spotting resolution of orbiting combat drones on their ability to recognize and strike the most vulnerable points on a opposing vessel. The efficient use of future long range weaponry will focus on ‘one shot kills’ because one shot may be all that you will have.
I think the days are over for combat planes with pilots making bombing runs on such targets, as pilots will be saved for convoy defense where split second decisions have to be made by a well trained pilot in a fast changing battle action.
The US has a substantial fleet of B-52s retro fitted to carry a bunch of ship killing crusise missiles from outside the range of normal defensive weapons. These could be fired in swarms to overwhelm Chinese defenses, on the water, or of the ships bases.
The response to such attacks would be what hypersonic missiles are for, to catch such planes on the ground when they are returning from a missile to destroy them and they base facilities to prevent continued offensive operations from the US forward bases.
As time goes on, the Chinese military technology will continue to improve, with some expected sharing with the Russians. But the bottom line will remain that they have an advantage of not wasting money to attack, capture, and then have to defend foriegn lands.
China can then focus more on defense and its own doomsday weapons if the US should launch a full nuclear attack. The big danger there is that someone would over react and set up a chain reaction where everyone else launches whatever it has to make sure it is not destroyed in place without having inflicting damage on the adversary.
We hope that wise, non-suicidal or crazy people are not in the command centers at that time. There is much to lose by everyone… Jim W. Dean ]
First published … November 08, 2021
BEIJING — Satellite images show China has built mock-ups of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier and destroyer in its northwestern desert, possibly for practice for a future naval clash as tensions rise between the nations
The images captured by Colorado-based satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies dated Sunday show the outlines of a U.S. aircraft carrier and at least one destroyer sitting on a railway track.
Maxar identified the location as Ruoqiang, a Taklamakan Desert county in the northwestern Xinjiang region.
The independent U.S. Naval Institute said on its website that the mock-ups of U.S. ships were part of a new target range developed by the People’s Liberation Army.
It wasn’t clear from the images how many details had been included in the apparent targets, although USNI said it had identified features on the destroyer including its funnels and weapons systems.
“The PLA’s evolving capabilities and concepts continue to strengthen (China’s) ability to ‘fight and win wars’ against a ‘strong enemy’ — a likely euphemism for the United States,” the report said.
…The Pentagon this month issued a report saying China is expanding its nuclear force much faster than U.S. officials predicted just a year ago. That appears designed to enable Beijing to match or surpass U.S. global power by midcentury, the report said.
You can read the full Poitico article here.
