Footage of purported Chinese DF-26B missile strike on US carrier mock-up circulates online

Chinese state media footage showing a ballistic missile striking a full-scale mock-up of a US aircraft carrier in a desert test range has circulated widely online, drawing attention to China’s anti-ship ballistic missile capabilities.

A clip marked with CCTV (China’s state TV) logos depicts a missile launching from a desert site, with an inset showing a rail-mounted ship-shaped target, followed by a large fireball engulfing a carrier-like mock-up on the sand.

Online accounts have identified the weapon as the DF-26B, the anti-ship variant of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force’s Dongfeng-26 intermediate-range ballistic missile.

China releases footage of a DF-26B ballistic missile destroying a mock US Navy aircraft carrier. Beijing is clearly training for one of the biggest challenges in a potential Pacific conflict, sinking or disabling US aircraft carriers. That impact was brutal. China is sending a clear message about its growing ability to threaten America's carrier strike groups. https://t.co/PXVxdbadzB

— Defence Index (@Defence_Index) November 1, 2026

However, the footage itself does not name the missile, provide a date, or offer a formal damage assessment.

Analysts note that the clip appears to match footage first reported in late December 2024 by the French site Zone Militaire, when CCTV aired similar images of a launch and impact on a carrier mock-up at a training ground in the Taklamakan Desert.

No evidence has emerged of a fresh official CCTV release or related US statement this week.

The model in the video has been described as resembling a Nimitz-class carrier more closely than some of the Ford-class outlines visible in satellite imagery.

The DF-26 is a road-mobile, two-stage solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile that can carry either nuclear or conventional warheads.

Open-source assessments, including those from the Center for Strategic and International Studies Missile Defense Project, place its range at approximately 4,000 kilometers (about 2,500 miles), while some Chinese sources and reports cite figures up to 5,000 kilometers.

It is frequently referred to as a “carrier killer” or “Guam killer” because of its potential reach against US bases and naval forces in the Western Pacific.

An anti-ship version was reportedly tested in 2020 against a moving ship target in the South China Sea alongside a DF-21D.

China has maintained full-scale mock-ups of US warships, including aircraft carriers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, at a missile test range near Ruoqiang in Xinjiang’s Taklamakan Desert since at least 2021, according to commercial satellite imagery from Maxar and other providers.

Later images have shown three-dimensional models, rail systems designed to simulate moving targets, and signs of strike damage.

These facilities support testing of anti-ship ballistic missiles and related systems as part of broader anti-access/area-denial efforts.

In 2026, Chinese state media also released other DF-26-related imagery, including previously unseen configurations with flattened or blunted warhead noses and views of the missile outside its launch canister, timed around the Rocket Force’s anniversary.

Analysts interpret such displays and the continued use of realistic desert targets as signaling improvements in terminal maneuvering, seeker capabilities, and overall readiness against high-value maritime targets.