{"id":343254,"date":"2026-05-30T22:25:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T16:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=343254"},"modified":"2026-05-30T22:25:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T16:55:21","slug":"satellite-images-show-china-is-constructing-nuke-launch-pads-and-bunkers-news-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/30\/satellite-images-show-china-is-constructing-nuke-launch-pads-and-bunkers-news-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Satellite images show China is constructing nuke launch pads and bunkers | News World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><figcaption>A satellite showing certainly one of the large octagon structures at the center of China\u2019s military network in Xinjiang province (Picture: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>China is constructing dozens of launch pads for nuclear missiles, latest satellite images show.<\/p>\n<p>Greater than 80 pads have already been constructed in the course of the desert in Xinjiang autonomous province, home to the Uyghur muslim community.<\/p>\n<p>The brand new infrastructure has been built up to now six years inside 150 kilometres of the Hami nuclear silo fields which house China\u2019s longest range missiles, to which they&#8217;re linked by airfields and railheads.<\/p>\n<p>At the center of the sprawling network covering 1000&#8217;s of square kilometres are octagon structures which contain housing for personnel and huge military vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Nuclear capable weapons were amongst military hardware on display during a parade in Beijing last September to mark the eightieth anniversary of the tip of the Second World War.<\/p>\n<p>Experts imagine the pads could possibly be used to deploy mobile air-defense missiles, electronic warfare nodes and even mobile ICBM units.<\/p>\n<div class=\"factbox\" data-ico=\"factbox_article\" data-track-module=\"factbox_article\">\n<h2 class=\"factbox-title\">\n\t\t\t\tJoin for all of the most recent stories\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<div class=\"factbox-content\">\n<p>Start your day informed with Metro&#8217;s <strong>News Updates<\/strong> newsletter or get <strong>Breaking News <\/strong>alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_299320701-7ba1.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28580921\" alt=\"A satellite image shows what security analysts say is a launch pad that is part of two isolated desert networks linked by roads and possible communications conduits, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, April 28, 2026. Vantor\/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. DO NOT OBSCURE LOGO. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>A picture showing what experts imagine is a launchpad which could possibly be used to fireside air defence missiles connected to a sprawling military network spanning 1000&#8217;s of square kilometres (Picture: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Alexander Neill, a fellow at Hawaii\u2019s Pacific Forum think tank, said the most recent development was a \u2018very considerable enhancement and diversification of China\u2019s strategic nuclear deterrent\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>China has a much smaller stockpile than the world\u2019s two largest nuclear powers, Russia and the US, each of which depend on their relative isolation and sheer numbers of silos to act as a deterrent.<\/p>\n<p>The grand scale of China\u2019s military development shows investment in hardened infrastructure designed to guard and implement the country\u2019s nuclear forces.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_299443489-c5c5.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28580917\" alt=\"FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Members of the People's Liberation Army stand as the strategic strike group displays DF-61 nuclear missiles during a military parade in Beijing, China, September 3, 2025. REUTERS\/Tingshu Wang\/File Photo\/File Photo\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>China\u2019s nuclear hardware was on show during a parade to mark the eightieth anniversary of the tip of World War Two in Beijing last yr (Picture: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In response to Pentagon reports, China is expanding its nuclear capability faster than another nation and, despite a recent slowing in production, is well heading in the right direction to achieve 1,000 warheads by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>It has also been boosting its early warning capability, underpinned by Huoyan-1 satellites, which may detect an incoming ICBM inside 90 seconds of its launch and alert a command centre inside three minutes, giving time for the country to fireside its own weapons before they&#8217;re hit.<\/p>\n<p>But despite China\u2019s \u2018no first use\u2019 policy, diplomats imagine it can&#8217;t be ruled out that Beijing would use nuclear coercion to discourage any possible foreign intervention in Taiwan.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Donald Trump left the Chinese capital with warnings from president Xi Jinping that disagreements over Taiwan may lead each countries to a \u2018dangerous place\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Hans Kristensen, the Federation of American Scientists\u2019 Nuclear Information Project, said \u2018it is tough to rule anything out\u2019 when considering how Beijing could deploy its enlarged military capability.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the event in Xinjiang province was an \u2018extraordinary effort\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019ve never seen anything quite prefer it\u2019, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong><strong><strong>Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this, <\/strong><strong>check our news page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: China executes man who poisoned billionaire gaming tycoon linked to Netflix show<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Greater than 80 dead and others missing after Chinese coal mine explodes<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Putin seen walking awkwardly after stepping out of automobile at China summit<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\"><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-comments\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card accent--news\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card__inner\">\n<h4>News Updates<\/h4>\n<p>Stay on top of the headlines with day by day email updates.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A satellite showing certainly one of the large octagon structures at the center of China\u2019s military network in Xinjiang province (Picture: Reuters) China is constructing dozens of launch pads for nuclear missiles, latest satellite images show. Greater than 80 pads have already been constructed in the course of the desert in Xinjiang autonomous province, home [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":343255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[408,49511,43,3702,4789,395,27785,9631,4260,483,813],"class_list":["post-343254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-building","tag-bunkers","tag-china","tag-images","tag-launch","tag-news","tag-nuke","tag-pads","tag-satellite","tag-show","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343257,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343254\/revisions\/343257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}