China – Mysterious image causes a stir

A ground-to-air photo of a Chinese H-6 bomber has in recent days gone viral globally, after it first appeared on the social media site Weibo.

The speculation is not about the H-6 machine itself, but what is attached under the fuselage: a mysterious dark triangular object that does not correspond to any known existing craft, according to the defense website The War Zone.

– Obviously not

Early speculation was that the dark triangle is a surveillance drone of the WZ-8 type – which is regularly carried off and launched from precisely H-6 machines – but this is rejected by The War Zone editor and article author Joseph Trevithick.

– This is obviously not the case, he writes, and refers to Andreas Rupprecht, a connoisseur of Chinese aircraft, who points out that the object under the H-6 machine “seems to be larger and wider and have a different wing geometry” than the WZ-8.

Editor Trevithick further speculates – with the caveat that the image is real – that it could be a new variant or derivative of the WZ-8.

– But this would be a comprehensive redesign that significantly differs from the known WZ-8 configuration both in terms of size and wing shape, he writes.

Prototype?

Another candidate is the MD-22 supersonic aircraft, which is at the experimental stage and has not yet been presented in its final form. An early rendering was presented at an air show in Zhuhai, China in 2022, and may resemble the dark shape below the H-6 aircraft.

A third candidate is that the mysterious triangle could be a prototype of the Shenlong spacecraft, which has previously been carried into the air by an older H-6 variant.

– On the other hand, the shape does not agree with typical spaceplane designs, Trevithick points out, who thus halfway writes off this possibility.

Made up

Finally, he raises the possibility that it could be something completely different – and points out that the shape “in some respects” resembles the fictional Darkstar supersonic aircraft from “Top Gun: Maverick”, which American Lockheed Martin collaborated with the filmmakers to develop, and which the company has stated that could have worked in reality.

The editor also thinks the shape is vaguely similar to the US classified concept aircraft called Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) – but points out himself that this does not fit into the Chinese context.

– Without being able to take a closer look at the mysterious object, we simply cannot at the present time say with certainty what it might be, he states – and hopes that later observations can provide more answers.