TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China has expanded its missile production capacity since 2020 by building out related facilities, CNN reported.

Over 60% of 136 sites tied to missile production or the country’s rocket force had grown in the satellite imagery, including factories, research and test centers, towers, and bunkers, per the report.

CNN said it identified the sites by referencing public information on China’s two main state-owned defense contractors and their subsidiaries, then cross-checking with geospatial analysis. Facilities were found in or near Beijing and Shanghai as well as Chengdu and Xi’an. Some locations in or near Xi'an have more than doubled in size and several new sites were constructed.

The build-up would help provide China with enough missiles in a Taiwan conflict and deter US naval intervention by striking ports, helicopter bases, and supply hubs, the report noted. “They want to destroy things in theater and keep everything else out,” CNN quoted Decker Eveleth of the Center for Naval Analyses as saying.

CNN found that 65 of the 99 sites linked to missile manufacturing have grown in size, allowing China to ramp up the production of both cheap and high-end missiles. Beijing previously estimated 5,000-10,000 missiles would be enough to annex Taiwan, according to William Alberque, a senior adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum and former NATO director of arms control. After observing the Russia-Ukraine war, Beijing increased the number exponentially, he added.

To counter Chinese missile strikes, Taiwan announced plans to develop a “T-Dome” multi-layered air defense system modeled after Israel’s Iron Dome and the US’ Gold Dome. Having multiple missile systems linked together will create a multi-sensor/multi-shooter kill network that can select appropriate interceptors against specific threats, creating a multilayered, tightly knit air defense shield, Taiwan’s defense ministry said in October.

Some of Taiwan’s domestically produced air-defense systems include the TC-2N ground-launched Sky Sword II and Sky Bow II/III, alongside US-made Patriot and Avenger systems.