Satellite Images Reveal Octagon-Shaped Military Facilities Near China's Hami Nuclear Silo Fields

Satellite images show two octagon-shaped military installations built over the past six years southwest of the Hami nuclear silo fields in eastern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. One installation lies approximately 140 kilometers from the silos and the other about 230 kilometers away.

The structures sit at the center of networks of dirt roads and conduits that connect to more than 80 concrete pads across the desert.

Satellite imagery dated August 4, 2025 shows one of the octagon facilities. Images dated April 10, 2026 show a purported launch pad, and images dated March 19, 2026 show a fortified weapons storage installation. Each octagon contains housing for personnel and large military vehicles.

They are flanked by armored bunkers, fortified weapons-storage areas, airfields and railheads that link them to the Hami silos. Recent images show large tents and camouflaged launch sites cut into the desert, some with air-defense missile batteries. Exercises involving large military vehicles occurred around the northern octagon in April 2026 and this month.

A satellite image shows military activity with large tents and military vehicles at an octagon-shaped installation on April 30, 2026. At the northernmost octagon, a possible space or microwave communications facility is under construction, including satellite dishes and two large towers.

A third octagon-shaped installation south of the Lop Nur nuclear test facilities is less developed and appears to be used as a target range.

Images of the third octagon show pock-marked earth, damaged buildings and mock-ups of Western jet fighters. The silo fields in the northwestern Xinjiang region and Gansu province are the core of China’s land-based nuclear forces. The Pentagon’s December report estimated China is likely to have loaded 100 ICBMs across its three main silo fields.

The latest Pentagon report says China is on track to field 1,000 warheads by 2030, though warhead production has slowed. China’s nuclear missiles can reach any city in the United States. The PLA displayed nuclear-capable silo-based and truck-mounted intercontinental ballistic missiles during a parade in Beijing in September 2025 marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

China’s Huoyan-1 satellites underpin its early-warning system, which can detect an incoming ICBM within 90 seconds of launch and alert a command center within three to four minutes. ” Tong Zhao said there is a real possibility that the octagonal structures and strange towers are linked to C3, maintenance and storage activities related to China’s nuclear operations at the Hami ICBM silo site.