(RoyalPatriot.com )- Researchers have uncovered a very disturbing development in China — the country is building a massive second missile silo base.
According to the Daily Mail, the researchers say the base will now allow China to “significantly” expand their arsenal of nuclear weapons. The base measures 300 square miles in the Chinese desert, in close proximity to the town of Hami. That’s located in the northern part of Xinjiang province.
There are 14 silos that are currently being constructed there, according to the researchers. Eventually, though, they believe the site has the capacity to house 110 silos. And each one of those silos could house a missile that could carry as many as three nuclear warheads.
About 300 miles away from there, another new site that has space for up to 120 silos has been discovered recently. That’s in addition to another about 450 miles, where roughly 12 silos are being built.
The Hami site was uncovered by researchers from the Federation of American Scientists. They said:
“The silo construction at Yemen and Hami constitutes the most significant expansion of the Chinese nuclear arsenal ever.”
The distinctive tents that are being built over the silos that are under construction are what gave the site away, researchers said. The Chinese were trying to use these tents as a way to hide the silos from view.
The big takeaway is that the Chinese are building a massive support infrastructure for the site, including multiple road access, which makes researchers think the site is being built to be expanded a lot in the future.
Before these new sites were created, it was commonly believed China had roughly 20 silos already loaded with missiles, although it wasn’t known how many missiles or nuclear warheads they had.
In addition to this, the country is suspected of having roughly 100 mobile launch pads for the missiles.
Researchers say they have reason to think China is currently constructing about 250 silos at various sites across the country. If this is true, it would be massive increase in China’s ability to launch missiles.
A Pentagon report that was issued late in 2020 said the U.S. believed China already has access to nuclear warheads that totaled somewhere in the range of the “low 200s.” If they are indeed building all these silos and filling them with DF-5 ballistic missiles it already has, then their total stock could raise to 415 nuclear warheads.
If they were to use newer warheads known as DF-41, then the total capacity could be up to 875.
Russia has way more than that — estimated to be around 4,000 — but that doesn’t mean the escalation of production from China should not be a concern. In fact, it’s a huge concern, because it’s a sudden change from what China has done in the past, which can be very scary.
China has for the most part taken a relatively diplomatic approach to nuclear weapons in the past. They’ve had them, but have passed laws that said they can only be used in defense.
The country has even told other countries they should reduce how many weapons they have. Now, China is ramping up its own supply for some reason.
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