What China’s Lop Nur desert base expansion means for PLA stealth jets in race with US
China is rapidly expanding a flight-test facility deep in its western desert, satellite imagery has revealed, a push that analysts say could help fast track the development of its next-generation military aircraft as air-power rivalry with the United States intensifies.
Latest satellite photos of the facility near Lop Nur, in China’s western Xinjiang region, show four large new hangars, new taxiway work, a circular pad believed to be an engine-run or turnaround area, and possible fuel-storage infrastructure, according to an August 28 analysis by defence website TWZ.
The expansion comes as China pursues multiple advanced combat-aircraft programmes at once, potentially giving it greater capacity to test sensitive designs and conduct simultaneous flight-test programmes away from routine observation.
Andreas Rupprecht, an aviation analyst and expert on the Chinese air force, said he was convinced Lop Nur would become the People’s Liberation Army’s new test centre for high-end next-generation aircraft.
But another expert familiar with Chinese military aviation, who asked not to be named, cautioned against drawing firm conclusions until the base expansion was complete.
The latest expansion began around August 2025, according to J. Michael Dahm, a retired US Navy intelligence officer and senior fellow for aerospace and China studies at the Mitchell Institute. That was when the large tailless sixth-generation PLA aircraft widely known as the J-36 was first observed there, Dahm wrote in an April assessment.