Satellite images by Colorado-based satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies showed that China has constructed mock-ups of a US Navy aircraft carrier and destroyer in its northwestern desert, possibly as training targets.

The features, which are reported to be located in a Taklamakan Desert county in northwestern Xinjiang, reflect China's military preparations as tensions rise between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan and the South China Sea.

The images, which date from Sunday, show the outlines of a US aircraft carrier and at least one destroyer, both of which are parked on a railway track.

The mock-ups of US ships, according to US Naval Institute, were part of a new target range complex to test ballistic missiles.

The Race

China conducted a test of a hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before rushing towards its destination, revealing its sophisticated space capability that caught US intelligence off guard.

Five sources familiar with the test reported that the Chinese military fired a rocket carrying a hypersonic glide vehicle that traveled through low-orbit space before descending to its target.

The Pentagon has recently released a report that warned of China building up its nuclear power faster than the US officials predicted a year ago.

On his account, the Pentagon's top general Mark Milley stated that China's recent test of an earth-circling hypersonic missile was similar to the Soviet Union's launch of the world's first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957.

The US, Russia, and China are all working on hypersonic weapons, such as glide vehicles that are sent into space on a rocket but orbit the globe on their momentum.