Since the start of 2025, Vietnam has expanded its island-building efforts to eight features previously untouched by the current round of reclamation that Hanoi began in 2021.
New Dredging
Recent satellite imagery shows that Vietnam has undertaken dredging and landfill work at Alison Reef, Collins Reef, East Reef, Landsdowne Reef, and Petley Reef, all of which had previously housed only small concrete pillbox structures.
Landfill at these five reefs means that all 21 Vietnamese-occupied rocks and low-tide elevations in the Spratly Islands have now been expanded to include artificial land, a stark change from just four years ago when the majority (11) of these reefs hosted only isolated pillbox structures.
New expansion has also begun at three features that already hosted medium-sized artificial islands by virtue of earlier rounds of Vietnamese dredging: Amboyna Cay, Grierson Reef, and West Reef.
These efforts build on Hanoi’s already of dredging and landfill activities over the last four years. As of March 2025, Vietnam had created about 70 percent as much artificial land in the Spratlys as China had. Reclamation at these eight new features all but ensures that Vietnam will match—and likely surpass—the scale of Beijing’s island-building.
New Structures
Satellite imagery also shows that infrastructure is beginning to appear on reefs where dredging work is approaching completion, such as Barque Canada Reef, Discovery Great Reef, Ladd Reef, Namyit Island, Pearson Reef, Sand Cay, and Tennent Reef.
Munitions storage, in the form of six containers surrounded and separated by thick walls, has been constructed at each newly expanded reef. While most reefs only have one such structure, Barque Canada has the distinction of sporting three depots.
Also appearing at each reef is a recurring group of six buildings arranged in an identical pattern on three sides of a central courtyard.
Identical facilities on opposite sides of Pearson Reef, August 1, 2025
At each reef, these collections of six buildings are positioned facing outward toward the water. Most islands have two sets of these, often placed at opposite ends of the landmasses. As with munitions storage, Barque Canada has more than the rest: August imagery shows the foundations for its fifth such collection of buildings being laid down just beside an already completed grouping.
What, if anything, materializes in the central courtyard areas of these facilities will give an indication of their exact function, such as barracks or administrative buildings.
The location of these new structures and the munitions depots seem to preclude the possibility of full-length runways being built on some of the longer features like Ladd, Pearson, Tennent, or South Reef as many had speculated. The runway at Barque Canada is therefore likely the only one being constructed, joining Vietnam’s sole existing airstrip at Spratly Island.
