China’s ‘Bohai sea monster’ Ekranoplan emerges in clearest image ever

New images of the Chinese Ekranoplan show the presence of weapons pylons under the wings, suggesting an offensive role in addition to rapid support and resupply for amphibious operations in the South China Sea.

July 2025 China’s Ekranoplan, the first camouflaged ground effects vehicle, has been revealed in full in new, clear images on Chinese social media taken at an unspecified port. Images shared by Chinese military aviation analyst Andreas Rupprecht on

This aircraft was originally nicknamed the ‘Bohai Sea Monster’ after the location where the aircraft was first photographed in the northwest of the West Sea. You can now clearly see that the four top-mounted turboprop engines have three blade propellers and two hardpoints are visible under the starboard (right) wing.

There may also be two more on the port wing for symmetry purposes. However, this is not visible in the photo where the aircraft is captured from the left.

In his post, Rupprecht said: “The new photos of the new GEV interestingly show that it appears to have four hardpoints under the wings for anti-shipping munitions or torpedoes (two of which on the left are equipped with pylons). It also appears to be much smaller in size than previously expected.”

What the new image shows

At this stage, it is unknown whether the PLA Navy will receive the aircraft. That’s because existing warships, aircraft carriers, land, ships, underwater, air-launched missiles, and fighter-bombers can comfortably withstand both long and short sharp wars in the Western Pacific. Nonetheless, China’s aerospace technological prowess is increasingly being showcased as Beijing joins the ranks of new experimental aircraft it has produced late.

A photo from July 2025 showed an as-yet-unnamed aircraft moving over water. The port doors aft of the cockpit were noticeably open, a square-shaped dish was visible above the cockpit, and the antenna blades of the horizontal stabilizer mounted on top of the V-tail were visible.

The plate can now be clearly seen in the new image surrounded by six tilted blades. This is typically associated with high/ultra/ultra frequency (HF, VHF, and UHF) communications.

Extended landing gear can be seen in images of the aircraft being picked up by a crane, suggesting the aircraft may be amphibious and could also operate from a land base. More images and visuals of the aircraft in flight will help us understand these aspects better.

The only known Chinese flying boat is the civilian AG600, which is currently being adopted for the firefighter role. The aircraft also has a large market within China, where it can be used by coastal local governments for search and rescue, ferry transport, and could also be commandeered by the PLA for resupply in the event of war.

Going back to the Bohai Sea Monster, one observer in the comments thread below Rupprecht’s post believes it is merely a technology demonstration aircraft. The actual aircraft could be as large as the new Y-15 turboprop medium tactical lift aircraft and is powered by the same four WJ-10/AEP500 turboprop engines.

However, the final aircraft’s powerplant may be larger to support the larger size of the new aircraft. A larger number of engines cannot be ruled out either.

ecranoplance

Ekranoplans (GEV) are also known as wing-in-ground effect (WIG) aircraft, a hybrid of an airplane and a ship. They move over the water without actually touching the water. The International Maritime Organization classifies them as ships, but their operating principles are completely different.

The unique high-speed vessel gains its kinematics by skimming water 1 to 5 meters (3 to 16 feet) high. Therefore, we can say that it shares some characteristics with seaplanes, hovercraft, and hydrofoils.

They take advantage of an aerodynamic principle called “ground effect”. This combination of speed and stealth (its close proximity to the surface during flight makes it difficult to detect by radar) caught the attention of the Soviet military, which experimented with several variant concepts during the Cold War.

The most famous, the Soviet Ekranoplan, was actually jet powered and famously known as the ‘Caspian Sea Monster’. The original ‘Caspian Sea Monster’ was an experimental design that first flew in 1966, but was later destroyed in a crash in 1980.

The Soviets then built the smaller Lun-class ekranoplan, which became the only vehicle to enter operational service. Equipped with two rows of six missile tubes on the top of the fuselage, this aircraft reached a top speed of 300 knots and could only ‘fly’ 3 to 5 meters above the water.

A similar effort by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as part of the Liberty Lifter program was canceled in July 2025, just weeks after the Chinese aircraft appeared.

used in war

Chinese aircraft could play a significant role in small-scale, low-intensity operations in the shallow coastal waters of the South China Sea, transporting material and weapons to PLA naval marines on large artificial island bases, or even in a Taiwan invasion scenario.

This is consistent with the amphibious capabilities China is building with its Type 075 and Type 076 Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) amphibious assault ships, as well as Type 728 and Type 726 hovercraft. Weapons pylons can provide a secondary strike role, launching sea-skimming anti-ship missiles or torpedoes at targets of opportunity based on information received from other platforms.