Recently emerged satellite images reveal that the Chinese military has been practicing for attacks on US fighter jets and aircraft carriers in the remote deserts of Xinjiang in northwest China.

South China Morning Post (SCMP) in a fresh report analyzing the photographs identifies that the images were taken by Google Earth on May 29 and show mock-ups of jets resembling advanced US stealth fighters.

Replica US stealth fighters in remote Chinese desert, X/@clashreport

SCMP highlights a post by the Turkey-based Clash Report which was the first to highlight the photos with a caption: “Chinese PLA Air Force pilots are learning to practice air strikes on American F-35 and F-22 mock-ups.”

A likely location within Xingjiang region has been Qakilik (or Ruoqiang County) in the Taklamakan Desert, but this has neither been acknowledged by the Chinese government nor confirmed by any official source.

A number of the mock-up stealth fighters appeared to have suffered damage, likely by PLA aerial bombing runs, with blackened craters in a runway at the fictional airbase.

Chinese PLA Air Force pilots are learning to practice air strikes on American F-35 and F-22 mockups.

Qakilik, Taklamakan Desert, Xinjiang. pic.twitter.com/BjTHpgEWQI

— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 20, 2024

A separate report in Business Insider appears to show separate satellite images, obtained on a different date, of the same location in the desert. The images, captured in late April by Planet Labs PBC, similarly show around 20 aircraft near a runway.

Among the planes that resembles US stealth fighters, there also appears to be a P-8A Poseidon and the U-2 reconnaissance plane.

Planet Labs was also able to capture an apparent US Arleigh Burke class destroyer mock-up in the Taklamakan Desert earlier this year.

One analyst highlighted in comments made to the publication that the mock-ups likely are not just for target practice, but for honing radar and weapons-guidance software and sensitive technology.

The expert described that “these mock-ups potentially allowed China to refine seekers with image-recognition capabilities and help it develop the ability to accurately target particular ships or even specific parts of ships where a missile could do the most damage.”

Source: Planet Labs