The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning performs military exercises near Japanese waters in May 2022. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has prepared its pilots for attacks on US vessels, but has reacted with anger to similar preparations among US regional allies. (Japan Ministry of Defense)
China Is Practicing ‘Sinking’ US Carriers—but Doesn’t Like Japan Doing the Same
Despite China’s pearl-clutching over Japanese preparations against its carriers, it has built an elaborate test range for its aircraft in Xinjiang for the same purpose.
Prior to World War II, the Imperial Japanese Navy actively refined its tactics to strike and sink the US Navy’s battleships. Those efforts, which were largely conducted in secret, were vindicated during the December 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
In the decades since, many other naval air wings have established training routines to attack enemy ships. The modern Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) has reportedly been practicing for an attack on China’s first aircraft carrier, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 001 CNS Liaoning.
“Outrageously audacious! Japan actually simulated an attack on the Liaoning aircraft carrier,” Chinese state media broadcaster CCTV announced over the weekend—noting that the JMSDF had actively monitored and tracked the movements of the Type 001 flattop during its recent deployment to the South China Sea and Western Pacific.
“It’s clear who is the threat and who is the provocateur. We urge the Japanese side to stop its dangerous acts of interfering with China’s normal training activities,” Chinese Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesperson Zhang Ziaogang told the state-run Global Times.
China’s Message: Ship Target Practice Is Only OK When We Do It
The comments by Zhang about the JMSDF drills, which did not directly threaten the CNS Liaoning, come as it was reported that the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) has been rehearsing strikes against the United States Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.
Satellite images showed that the Rocket Force built a full-size mockup of an AEGIS guided-missile warship in the desert of the country’s northwestern Xinjiang region. Open-source military analyst Joseph Wen, a research fellow at the Taiwan Inspiration Association, first shared the images.
“Observations at the PLA’s anti-ship equipment testing ground in Xinjiang’s Sharplek reveal that in mid-May, it constructed a three-dimensional target resembling an ‘Arleigh Burke-class destroyer,’ indicating that beyond gray-zone incursions against Taiwan, the PLA is also intensifying tests of anti-ship equipment, aimed at countering and threatening the US military presence in the First Island Chain,” Wen wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The three-dimensional mock-up featured many of the key details and characteristics of the US Navy’s workhorse destroyers.
“Military analysts assess that the new replica is specifically optimized for validating anti-ship ballistic missiles such as the DF-21D and DF-26, alongside emerging hypersonic strike systems and AI-assisted targeting architectures,” Defence Security Asia reported.
However, there is much more than just the mock-up of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.
The Taklamakan Desert—an inhospitable desert hemmed in by mountain ranges and sometimes known as the “Sea of Death”—is home to a sprawling weapons range where the PLA tests its anti-ship ballistic missiles. In addition to the new 3D target, the range features highly precise, full-scale and half-scale mock-ups of other US Navy warships, including a 2D Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, and another 2D mock-up of the Gerald R. Ford-class supercarrier.
There are reports that the complex even features a rail system that allows some warship targets to move, simulating evasive maneuvers at sea.
3D Ship Targets Are a Useful Training Tool for China
China has conducted the testing of its anti-ship weapons at a stationary target since at least 2003, when it first constructed a large concrete pad that was roughly the size of a carrier at another site. That slab, which is part of the Shuangchengzi missile test range, had reportedly been used in missile tests many times, and it has been frequently repaired.
What is unique is that the PLA Rocket Force is now engaging a fully rendered 3D target.
“By reproducing the complex radar profile of an Arleigh Burke destroyer, the PLA can evaluate whether missile seekers can discriminate between operational combatants, electronic decoys, chaff clouds, and deceptive signature management systems during high-intensity conflict,” Defence Security Asia explained.
Other mock-ups of US military platforms at Chinese test ranges included the F-35 Lightning II and F-22 Raptor fighters on the ground.
China is not alone in this regard. The United States performs similar exercises—notably building copies of Russian and Chinese air defenses at its test ranges, some of which have caused concern after being spotted outside their designated areas.
However, last year, satellite images also showed that China had built replicas of various government buildings in Taipei, including the Presidential Office, at the same range. The Russian government’s reaction if the United States were to build a scale model of the Kremlin for target practice at one of its bases is easy to imagine!
Beijing continues to build such targets—but expresses outrage that the JMSDF conducted drills for the same purpose, even as the PLAN aggressively deploys its warships near Japan.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.
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