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China’s ‘Bohai Sea Monster’ Ekranoplan Emerges in Clearest Images Yet

New images of the Chinese ekranoplan show the presence of underwing weapons pylons, suggesting a strike role in addition to rapid support and resupply for amphibious operations in the South China Sea.

China’s Ekranoplan, the ground effect vehicle that first broke cover in July 2025, has come into full view in new clearer images on Chinese social media, taken at an unspecified seaport. Shared on X by leading Chinese military aviation analyst Andreas Rupprecht, the images shows the aircraft, visibly smaller in size than previously observed, stationary in the water and later being lifted off the water by a crane.

The aircraft was also originally dubbed the “Bohai Sea Monster,” from the name of the location where the aircraft was first photographed in the northwestern part of the Yellow Sea. We can now clearly see the four top-mounted turboprop engines have three-blade propellers, while two hardpoints are visible under the starboard (right-side) wing.

There could also be two more on the port-side wing as well for symmetrical purposes. However these are not visible in the photograph, which captures the aircraft from its left.

Rupprecht said in his post: “New pictures of the new GEV, interestingly it has apparently 4 underwing hardpoints (of which two of them on the left side has been fitted with pylons) for presumably antiship munitions or torpedoes. Also, it appears to be much smaller in size than previously expected.”

What the new images show

At this stage it is far from being known whether the aircraft will be acquired by the PLA Navy, since its existing warship, aircraft carrier, land, ship, underwater, air-launched missilery, and fighter-bombers can comfortably sustain both a prolonged and short, sharp war in the western Pacific. It nevertheless joins a long line of new, possibly experimental, aircraft that Beijing has produced off late, in a growing display of its aerospace technological prowess.

In the July 2025 picture, the aircraft, whose designation remains unknown, appeared to be moving on the water. The port entry door behind the cockpit was visibly open, and we could also see a square-shaped dish above the cockpit and antenna blades on the horizontal stabilizer mounted on top of the V-tail.

The dish can now be clearly seen in the new images, surrounded by six slanted blades. These are usually related to High/Very/Ultra Frequency (HF, VHF and UHF) communications.

In the image showing the aircraft being picked up by crane, we can see the extended landing gear, suggesting the aircraft might also be amphibian and able to operate from land bases. More images and visuals of the aircraft, possibly in flight, can shed more light on this aspect.

A known Chinese flying boat is the civilian AG600, which has now been adopted in a firefighter role. The aircraft also has a massive market within China, where local governments along the coast can use it for search and rescue, passenger ferry, while also being commandeered by the PLA for resupply in the event of a war.

Coming back to the Bohai Sea Monster, one observer in the comment thread under Rupprecht’s post believes this is only a technology demonstrator aircraft. The actual aircraft could be as large as the new Y-15 turboprop medium tactical lift aircraft, and will be powered by the same four WJ-10/AEP500 turboprop engines.

The powerplants on the final aircraft could however be larger to support the new aircraft’s larger size. A larger number of engines also can’t be excluded……

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