A massive military facility is emerging in a distant Chinese desert, which some security experts believe was constructed to make sure that no American first strike on China's nuclear arsenal could consistently eliminate Beijing's capacity to retaliate.
Any American city can already be reached by China's nuclear missiles. Beijing is now constructing a vast network of launch pads, shelters, and communications nodes close to the remote nuclear silos that house the Chinese military's longest-range missiles, according to satellite photos examined by Reuters.
The pictures show around 80 pads that might be used by China's growing fleet of air defence systems and mobile missile launchers. According to three security analysts who evaluated the photos for Reuters, they also depict structures that might support command operations, satellite communications, and electronic warfare.

The size of the project, which has never been documented before, suggests a broad extension of hardened infrastructure intended to safeguard and run China's land-based nuclear weaponry. "We can see this infrastructure is being built on a grand scale, covering thousands of square kilometres of desert beyond the silo fields," said Alexander Neill, an adjunct fellow at Hawaii's Pacific Forum think tank. When taken as a whole, the network represents a significant upgrade in Beijing's efforts to ensure second-strike capability, underscoring growing nuclear competition with the United States as tensions rise over issues like Taiwan's sovereignty. He stated that, depending on the specific capabilities, "we're looking at a very considerable enhancement and diversification of China's strategic nuclear deterrent."

China's declared objective of creating a minimum but credible nuclear deterrent—a strategy based on the ability to retaliate if it is attacked first—requires the ability to defend its desert silos. Although the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has the ability to launch nuclear bombs from aircraft and submarines, its nuclear forces are concentrated in the silo fields located in Gansu province and northwest Xinjiang.
Because of what some foreign diplomats characterise as Beijing's lack of transparency and the United States' unsuccessful attempts to engage the Chinese leadership on its evolving nuclear capabilities and intentions, China's nuclear build-up is one of the most closely examined aspects of President Xi Jinping's military modernisation.

China's "no first use" policy, which states that its forces would not start a nuclear exchange, is a fundamental component of its philosophy. However, according to some senior Western academics and diplomats, China might use nuclear force to prevent outside intervention in a Taiwan dispute.
This month, Xi cautioned U.S. President Donald Trump that if their nations' disputes over Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, are handled improperly, they may end up in a "dangerous place." China's claim to sovereignty is rejected by Taiwan's government.
Questions concerning China's nuclear program and the advancements shown in the satellite picture were not answered by the country's defence ministry. The Pentagon declared that it would not comment on issues pertaining to intelligence.

OCTAGONS IN THE DESERT
Two octagon-shaped installations constructed during the last six years in eastern Xinjiang serve as the focal point of the new desert infrastructure. Both are located approximately 140 kilometres and 230 kilometres southwest of the Hami nuclear silo fields.
According to satellite photos, the octagonal buildings house both huge military vehicles and troops. They are surrounded by airfields and railheads that connect the octagons to the Hami silos, as well as armoured bunkers and fortified places for storing weaponry.
According to the photos, large military vehicle exercises took place in the northern octagon this month and in April. Large tents and what two experts described as camouflaged launch sites carved out of the desert, some with air-defense missile batteries, are also visible in recent photos.

There has been prior documentation of the octagons' existence. However, the scope of the launch-pad network connected to the octagons, recent military activity near one of the installations, and analysts' conclusions that the pads may deploy mobile missile launchers and electronic-warfare activities are all originally reported by Reuters.
In general, the infrastructure might serve China's nuclear program and other military objectives, according to five security experts Reuters spoke with. However, they warned that important information are still unclear, including as the weapons China would use at the launch pads and whether the octagon structures contain capabilities for installing nuclear bombs or truck-mounted ballistic missiles.

At a parade in Beijing last September to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Second World War's end, the PLA unveiled nuclear-capable weapons. These included intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) deployed on trucks and silos.
China is developing its nuclear weapons capabilities more quickly than any other country, according to U.S. officials and arms-control experts. According to the most recent Pentagon study on China's military modernisation, the nation is on schedule to field 1,000 warheads by 2030 despite a slowdown in warhead manufacturing. According to the December report, China's three primary silo fields are expected to have loaded 100 ICBMs.

According to U.S. sources, China has also been bolstering its early warning system, which is supported by its Huoyan-1 satellites. According to the Pentagon, the system can identify an oncoming ICBM within 90 seconds of launch and notify a command center within three to four minutes. This gives China enough time to launch its own silo-based weapons before they are struck.
A SPECIAL EFFORT
Notably, each octagon is at the center of a system of conduits and dirt roads that extend far into the desert. These paths lead to the concrete pads, which are tucked away between dry creekbeds and rocky outcrops.
According to three security experts, the pads might be used to launch road-mobile ICBM launchers, mobile air defence missiles, or electronic warfare nodes from some of the larger ones.

Although it was challenging to determine how the various installations would be used, Hans Kristensen, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Nuclear Information Project, stated that "it is hard to rule anything out" given the size of the infrastructure in such a hostile area.
According to Kristensen and Neill, fiber-optic cables for communications may be present in the conduits connecting the pads to the octagon structures.
According to three analysts, a potential space or microwave communications station is also being built at the northernmost octagon, pointing to two massive towers and satellite dishes.

Tong Zhao, a senior fellow in nuclear policy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, stated, "Taken together, I think there is a real possibility that the octagonal structures and the strange towers are linked to C3 - command, control, and communications - as well as maintenance and storage activities related to China's nuclear operations at the Hami ICBM silo site."
Less developed is a third octagon-shaped structure located south of the nuclear test facilities at Lop Nur. Images reveal pock-marked ground, damaged houses, and what experts at Vantor, a commercial satellite imagery supplier, described as mock-ups of Western jet jets, suggesting that it is used as a target range.

China may differ from the other major nuclear nations due to the size of its defence network around its silos. Instead of using substantial missile defence, the U.S. and Russia, whose deployed weapons and warhead stockpiles much outweigh Beijing's, rely on a combination of the sheer number of silos, their relative isolation, and their reinforced construction to prevent a first strike, according to Kristensen.
Even experienced observers are shocked by the scope of what is developing in China's northwest desert.It's unlike anything I've ever seen," Kristensen remarked. "It's an extraordinary effort."