Gigantic Hangar Near Secretive Chinese Test Facilities Points To Exotic Airship Development

China's expansive far western regions are well-suited to hosting facilities to support various kinds of military research and development and test and evaluation activities, as well as ostensibly civilian work that could also have military applications, especially in the air and space arenas. These areas of the country, which are also highly remote, help to keep all of these activities away from prying eyes. As such, they are practically littered with notable or otherwise curious infrastructure. 

One particularly interesting facility that appears to have largely escaped public attention, features, among other things, an absolutely massive hangar—you could fit a Nimitz class supercarrier inside with 100 feet to spare on either side—and is situated near other sites associated with missile defense and anti-satellite activities. The hangar clearly has to do with the development of lighter-than-air craft, which could include large unmanned airship designs capable of operating in the upper reaches of the atmosphere.

The War Zone has obtained satellite imagery of this site from Planet Labs and has reviewed additional images of the site that are available from the company, as well as through other sources. The hangar is situated just over five miles south of Bosten Lake, the largest lake in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region. It is also located some 60 miles east of Korla, Xinjiang's second-largest city and the capital of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. Malan Air Base, a secretive People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) test base with an emphasis on unmanned platforms, is notably situated on the opposite side of Bosten Lake from this hangar.

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