(Washington Composite Electric) exclusive satellite images obtained by CNN (CNN) show that large -scale airship developed by the Chinese military was first exposed in a remote base in northwestern China.
These pictures were taken in November last year by Blacksky, a US satellite image company, that is, the Chinese spy balloon was shot down three months before the sea outside the South Carolina.At that time, a lane of nearly one kilometer -long runway in the northwestern desert base of China was photographed, and an airship of about 100 feet (about 30 meters) was parked.CNN subsequently asked some aerospace experts to show with these images. They confirmed that this was airship and runway, and they also saw the pivot point of launch airships and a launch of nearly 900 feet.
Experts say that the new satellite image may indicate a significant improvement in the Chinese airship plan, and it seems to be a more flexible and easy -to -operate aircraft than ever seen or known in the past.
Jacobb, director of the Oklahoma Institute of Aeronautics and Aerospace, said that airship like this can be used as "submarines in the sky", and it seems to have dedicated advancement and navigation capabilities, which canStay for a long time.
A spy balloon expert William Kim said that the airship taken by satellite images may be a test of Chinese aspects of satellite image.
In response to the above -mentioned satellite images, CNN also verified several Congress and administrative offices, Pentagon, Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, who are familiar with the United States, but they were unwilling to respond.
The spy balloon incident that has occurred in January this year has aroused great attention to the Chinese airship plan.The Chinese Modern Strategic Report published by the US Think Tank in 2018 pointed out that airships are cheaper and can provide more accurate information than satellites, and they are not easily affected or destroyed, so they are very attractive to China.
CNN reported that the People's Liberation Army has now been inferred that the use of airship, Aerostats and free floating balloon airships.Researcher Haierus, who has studied the Chinese airship project for many years, said that Chinese airship technology and research are no longer just limited to civilian use, and that the airships of Chinese in the past were built by research institutions and universities, and some of them were closely related to the PLA.
The position of the airship project in the overall organizational structure of the Chinese military is still a mystery. Haier said that some patents involving airship technology have recently been re -assigned to a new PLA unit, namely 63660 forces.After CNN querying various patents in China, it was found that the new unit has many patents related to airship technology and storage.
CNN checked hundreds of satellite images and inferred that after the PLA initially built the above -mentioned 900 -foot -large hangar in 2013, there have been few activities in these years.
Jacobus said that this huge garage is unlikely to be built for airships seen in satellite images, and it should have other specific purposes."Looking at the scale of this governing, it should be used for larger aircraft." He guessed that the airship might be a test product or performing other minor tasks.
Blacksky shows other satellite images provided by CNN, the construction projects in the glory are still ongoing.Hayes said that it is unclear what China's purpose is. If a large airship appears from the governing, the truth will be white."Especially in this place, I really want to see a large airship."
