China Spotted Building 110 Secret Nuclear Missile Bases in Desert
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-spotted-building-110-secret-nuclear-missile-bases-in-desert/ar-AAMCcFp
China is building another 110 nuclear missile silos in its western desert in what experts have described as the "most extensive" construction effort since the Cold War, according to new research published on Tuesday.
It is located 240 miles northwest of Yumen, Gansu province, where around 120 under-construction missile bases were found just a month earlier by researchers at the Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) in California. Together, they constitute "the most significant expansion of the Chinese nuclear arsenal ever," as well as the deepest inland of China's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) installations, the report said.
In their findings, Korda and Kristensen estimate that construction of the Hami sites began in March, about a month after work is believed to have started at the Yumen bases. Environmental domes have been placed over at least 14 silos, while preparations are underway at another 19 bases, they said.
"It is unknown at this point whether all silos will be filled," said Kristensen, who is project director at FAS. "Some analysts favor the 'shell game' hypothesis while others, including officials we have talked to, assume that the silos will eventually be filled," he told Newsweek.
The "shell game" refers to a strategy deployed by the United States during the Cold War, when its nuclear arsenal would be constantly shuttled between a larger number of silos, obscuring the true location and quality of the country's nuclear strike capabilities.
China's People's Liberation Army Rocket Force has for decades maintained about 20 silos for nuclear-capable DF-5 ICBMs, the FAS research notes. The military also has around 100 truck-mounted ICBM launchers.
When complete, the addition of 250 bases will give China a larger number of silo-based ICBMs than Russia, and bring its total to about half the size of the U.S. ICBM capacity, the report said.
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