China's missile test sites sit on the edge of the Gobi Desert, lying side by side with the US bases in Japan, as shown on the Google Earth images included in a recent "War on the Rocks" report by Navy Cmdr.

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The report emphasized the People's Liberation Army's missile force and threat it poses to US installations, personnel, and equipment in the Western Pacific. Furthermore, the analysis said that US forces will not have enough time to react in case China strikes missiles on the area.

"The time available between the first detection of a missile launch by US space-based missile warning sensors to its impact would probably be on the order of 10 to 15 minutes," Thomas Shugart, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Society, said, adding that US aircrafts need to move and ship in port to start underway within minutes.

One of the Chinese missile test area reportedly resembles like Japan's Yokosuka Naval Base, with targets that appear to imitate docked Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Other targets appear like airfields, air-defense batteries, fuel deports, bunkers, planes, and power stations at Kadena and Misawa air bases, according to Star and Stripes.

Many defense experts believe that the China and the US are unlikely to start a war anytime soon. However, several activities of the US in the Western Pacific is geared toward scenarios that could raise into conflict.

Meanwhile, the report said that the US and its allies should carry out publicly practice defense over potential mass ballistic-missile attacks.

"Skeptics might say that catching the US flat-footed would be unlikely, but history teaches us not to discount the possibility of successful surprise attacks," Shugart noted.

Tagschina, US, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, People's Liberation Army, Yokosuka Naval Base, missile system