China Builds Desert Network to Protect Nuclear Missiles

China is building a vast military complex in remote desert areas of Xinjiang and Gansu, a move security experts say could significantly strengthen its ability to survive a possible nuclear strike and retaliate. The assessment is based on satellite images reviewed by Reuters.

The images show a sprawling network of launch pads, bunkers, communications nodes and other facilities near the silos that hold China’s longest-range nuclear missiles. The network includes more than 80 pads that could be used by mobile missile launchers and air-defense batteries, as well as facilities that may support electronic warfare, satellite communications and command operations.

The infrastructure also includes two large octagon-shaped installations in eastern Xinjiang. Satellite images show housing for personnel and large military vehicles, armored bunkers, fortified weapons-storage areas, airfields and rail links connecting the sites to the Hami silo fields.

Analysts described the construction as a significant upgrade in China’s efforts to secure a second-strike capability. Beijing has long maintained a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons, while also investing in systems designed to preserve its ability to retaliate if attacked. Protecting its large missile forces in remote desert areas is a key part of that strategy.

The Pentagon says China is on track to field 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030. The country is also strengthening an advanced early-warning system, supported by satellites, that can detect an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile within 90 seconds of launch and alert a command center within three to four minutes.

(reuters, max)