Satellite images captured and analyzed by the non-profit organizations Open Nuclear Network (ONN) and Verification Research, Training and Information Center (Vertic) suggest that China is secretly expanding its capacity to produce more nuclear warheads than any other country in the world.
The discovery was shared and published this Sunday (28) by The Washington Post. According to the newspaper, China is rapidly revamping a network of facilities used to manufacture components for nuclear-capable warheads.
Renny Babiarz, who participated in this analysis, stated that “the levels of change we are seeing from 2019 to today are probably more extensive than anything we have ever seen” in history.
Although Beijing is far from equaling its arsenal with that of the United States, estimated at 3,700 nuclear warheads, the rapid expansion of the Asian country’s nuclear weapons program suggests that the Chinese military is preparing for an “all-out arms race” with other world powers.
Recently, President Donald Trump stated that, in a few years, China could reach the same capacity as the United States.
Satellite images shared with the Post reveal that Beijing has drastically accelerated activity in key locations involved in the production of nuclear warheads, an expansion that has not been seen since 2021.
According to analysts consulted by the American newspaper, the acceleration of military investments includes major improvements in facilities believed to design and manufacture plutonium cores, essential components for the production of warheads, as well as in factories that produce high-power explosives used to trigger nuclear reactions.
The organizations’ researchers also assess, through analysis of Chinese military textbooks, internal publications and articles by academics linked to the armed forces, that nuclear brigades are on high alert and may be adopting a launch-on-warning posture, which means that China would be prepared to retaliate as soon as a missile attack was detected.
The production of nuclear components is spread throughout the territory, according to the Post. In parallel with this, the Chinese Army has expanded test sites and missile silo fields since approximately 2020.
For now, the only publicly identified facility linked to the production of plutonium cores in China is Pingtong, located in a mountainous area of Sichuan province.
In November, the British newspaper Telegraph had already revealed the expansion of China’s secret military activities in the Gobi Desert, where an extensive installation is located that can be compared to Area 51, a top secret US installation located in the Nevada desert.
