Images reveal China constructing missile silos, rings alarm for US
Jul 31, 2021
Beijing [China] July 31 : Satellite images revealed by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) showed that Beijing is building a second nuclear missile silo field which is located 380 km northwest of the Yumen field and this has set the alarm bells ringing for the United States.
Considering other missile silos that are being constructed by China, the country seems to be aiming for a tenfold increase in intercontinental ballistic missiles, The Washinton Post reported.
"The number of new Chinese silos under construction exceeds the number of silo-based ICBMs operated by Russia and constitutes more than half of the size of the entire US ICBM force. The Chinese missile silo program constitutes the most extensive silo construction since the US and Soviet missile silo construction during the Cold War," Matt Korda and Hans Kristensen of the FAS said in the reports.
It is unknown how China will operate the new silos and how many warheads each missile will carry. Regardless, the silo construction represents a significant increase in the Chinese arsenal, reports from FAS said.
The static synchronous compensator commander Admiral Charles Richard also informed that "China's nuclear weapons stockpile is expected to double over the next decade." The new silos could allow China to accomplish this goal if it is indeed the goal,"
China was reportedly constructing more than 100 new missile silos in a desert area located in the western part of the country, in what experts say signals plans to significantly expand its nuclear capabilities.
These silo construction projects could provide China with yet another means of concealing its most powerful weapons.
China is also building more underground silos to launch its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), as its military rivalry with the US intensifies
Currently, The US has 450 silos, 400 of them loaded with missiles, while Russia has about 130 active silos, compared to 18 to 20 active silos in China, according to the FAS.
