Satellite Images Show China Built Replica US Destroyer for Missile Testing

Newly released satellite images show China has built a replica of a U.S. Navy destroyer at a remote missile-testing site in the Taklamakan Desert. The image, captured in May 2026 and released Wednesday, shows a structure resembling an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer at a test range in Xinjiang. The ship appears to mirror a destroyer currently used by the U.S. Seventh Fleet, which operates in the Western Pacific and waters surrounding Taiwan. Joseph Wu, co-founder of the Taiwan Defense Studies Initiative, first identified the structure. Debris from what appeared to be earlier missile tests was visible around the mock ship....