Commercial satellite images taken in May 2026 show what analysts describe as a full-scale mock-up resembling a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer at a remote test site in China’s Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang. The target was first flagged publicly by Joseph Wu, co-founder of the Taiwan Defense Studies Initiative.
Commercial satellite imagery captured in May 2026 shows a ship-shaped structure in Xinjiang’s Taklamakan Desert that closely resembles a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, according to reporting by The Daily Wire and other outlets citing open-source imagery analysts. (dailywire.com)
The Daily Wire reported that Joseph Wu, a co-founder of the Taiwan Defense Studies Initiative, was the first to identify the structure publicly. The images show the mock ship surrounded by what appeared to be debris consistent with prior weapons-testing activity, and analysts assessed the replica is likely intended as a target for anti-ship weapons development and testing. (dailywire.com)
The construction echoes earlier discoveries at desert test ranges in the same broader region. In 2021, satellite images publicized by the U.S. Naval Institute and widely reported at the time showed targets shaped like a U.S.-style aircraft carrier and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers at a range in Ruoqiang in Xinjiang. (dailywire.com)
The imagery surfaced amid heightened cross-strait scrutiny in June. Taiwan’s military conducted a live-fire drill using U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket systems, firing reduced-range practice rockets into waters off its west coast in the direction of the Taiwan Strait, in what the Associated Press described as the first time HIMARS rockets were fired into the strait’s waters. (apnews.com)
Separately, on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, the British, French and German representative offices in Taipei issued a rare joint statement expressing concern over what they called “novel” Chinese activity in waters east of Taiwan, warning it could threaten regional stability and freedom of navigation. (apnews.com)
