China’s ‘Area 51’ being built in remote desert site in race with West to produce ‘secret weapons’, satellite pics show
CHINA is feared to be building its own version of Area 51 in the middle of a remote radioactive desert.
Satellite images of the mysterious site emerged as the race between Beijing and the West to develop secret weapons and super stealth aircraft gathers pace.
Area 51 is located in the southern portion of Nevada, just 83 miles north-northwest of Las Vegas.
It is the common name of a highly-classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range.
The airbase is believed to be the home of the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems.
Aircraft such as the ultra-fast, high-flying SR-71 Blackbird were built and tested there, say reports.
It has also long been rumoured to be America’s main base for testing captured and crashed UFOs.
Now it appears China has chosen a former nuclear test range in a remote corner of Xinjiang province for its own secret testing facility.
About a dozen buildings are being constructed alongside the pre-existing three-mile stretch of runway, satellite photos of the area show.
"I think we’re observing what appears to be a pretty important facility for China’s military space activities that appears to be growing," Ankit Panda, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told .
NUCLEAR TESTING
The base is located in Lop Nur which is a former salt lake previously used as a nuclear testing site - meaning the area is radioactive.
The runway is at the edge of the testing area, but experts believe China is using it to launch and land military space planes.
China is known to be secretly developing its own strategic stealth bomber called the H-20 'God of War'.
Its 5,000-mile range means it is able to strike Guam and other key US facilities, making it a “game changer”, in the words of experts.
Jon Grevatt, a warplane specialist and Asia-Pacific defence analyst at defence and security intelligence source Janes, said the new plane was a significant milestone in achieving that goal.
“If the aircraft becomes operational, it has the potential to be a game-changer,” he
The new bomber will reportedly be equipped with nuclear and conventional cruise missiles.
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