--- title: "China’s Building Fake US Ships, Seemingly for Target Practice" description: "China's military has built mockups of US Navy aircraft carriers and other warships, seemingly in order to use them as target practice, Reuters reports. " date: "2021-11-08" modified: "2021-11-08" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-fake-ships-target-practice" categories: - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "china" - "the digest" - "US military" - "warship" --- # China’s Building Fake US Ships, Seemingly for Target Practice ![China's military has built mockups of US Navy aircraft carriers and other warships, seemingly in order to use them as target practice, Reuters reports. ]() *\Image: Maxar Technologies\* ## Target Practice China's military has built mockups of US Navy aircraft carriers and other warships, [*Reuters* reports](), seemingly in order to use them for target practice. It's a worrying discovery — tensions are already high between the two world powers, a result of [economic skirmishes]() and [even military kerfuffles](), all with the backdrop of two powerful nations in a small globe. Now, according to *Reuters*, images taken by satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies show at least one full-scale outline of a US aircraft carrier and two missile destroyers near a suspected target rage complex in the Taklamakan Desert. A separate rail system, just shy of 20 feet wide, also appears to be used as a way to simulate moving vessels. The site has been used for ballistic missile testing in the past. According to the US Naval Institute, the mockups were part of a target range set up by the People's Liberation Army, [*CBS* reports](). ## Military Build Out The news also comes after satellite images suggested China was [constructing over 100 identical missile silos]() in the desert near the city of Yumen in northwest China, an ominous sign that China may indeed be expanding its nuclear arsenal. Recent reports also suggest China is [working on a hypersonic missile](). US government officials were taken aback by the fact that the missile allegedly [circled the globe in low-Earth orbit]() before heading towards its intended target. It's impossible to definitively say what the supposed targets were built for, but it's not a stretch to conclude they're meant for military training purposes. Given the already heightened tension between the US and China, it's a precarious moment — and one that hopefully won't end up leading to a second Cold War, as one military official suggested to the *CBS*. **READ MORE:** [China builds mockups of U.S. Navy ships in area used for missile target practice]() \[Reuters\] **More on China's military:** *[Mystery Object Detected Near Chinese Satellite]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()