A massive military complex is developing in a distant Chinese desert, which some security experts claim was constructed to make sure that no American first strike on China's nuclear arsenal could consistently eliminate Beijing's capacity to retaliate.
Any American city is already within reach of China's nuclear weapons. Beijing is now constructing a vast network of launch pads, shelters, and communications nodes close to the remote nuclear silos that house the Chinese military's longest-range missiles, according to satellite photos examined by Reuters.
In its isolated northwest, next to the Hami nuclear silo area, China has constructed three octagon-shaped sites and more than 80 launch pads.
The pictures show over 80 pads that might be used by China's growing fleet of air defence batteries and mobile missile launchers. According to three security specialists who evaluated the photos for Reuters, they also depict structures that may be used for command operations, satellite communications, and electronic warfare.
Two octagon-shaped installations constructed during the last six years in eastern Xinjiang serve as the focal point of the new desert infrastructure. Both are located approximately 140 kilometres and 230 kilometers southwest of the Hami nuclear silo fields.
According to the photos, huge military vehicle exercises took place in the northern octagon this month and throughout April. Large tents and what two experts described as camouflaged launch locations carved into the desert, some with air-defence missile batteries, are also visible in recent photos.
Notably, each octagon is at the centre of a system of conduits and dirt roads that extend far into the desert. These paths lead to the concrete pads, which are tucked away between dry creekbeds and rocky outcrops.
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According to three security experts, the pads might be used to launch road-mobile ICBM launchers, mobile air defence missiles, or electronic warfare nodes from some of the larger ones.
The facilities around South Octagon show rail lines, a rail terminal, an airstrip, potential fuel storage, and reinforced bunkers surrounding the site, which are all visible on satellite photography.
There has been prior documentation of the octagons' existence. However, the scope of the launch pad network connected to the octagons, recent military activity near one of the installations, and analysts' predictions that the pads may deploy mobile missile launchers and electronic warfare activities are all originally reported by Reuters.
Less developed is a third octagon-shaped structure located south of the nuclear test facilities at Lop Nur. It seems to be employed as a target range: Pockmarked dirt, destroyed structures, and what experts at Vantor, a commercial satellite imagery supplier, described as mock-ups of Western jets are also visible in the images.
China's declared objective of creating a minimum but credible nuclear deterrent—a strategy based on the ability to retaliate if it is attacked first—requires the ability to defend its desert silos. The heart of the People's Liberation Army's nuclear forces is located in the silo fields in the province of Gansu and the northwest region of Xinjiang, although it is also capable of firing nuclear weapons from aircraft and submarines.
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