Mysterious aircraft shocked the world: What did the Chinese do?! PHOTO

The object is not a WZ-8 rocket-powered supersonic spy drone designed to be air-launched from the H-6 version.

From what can be seen of its general shape and size, it doesn't seem directly consistent with any other known operational or tested Chinese air systems, making its identity a real mystery.

A picture of the H-6 with the mysterious aircraft under the fuselage first appeared on the Chinese social network Weibo before it started circulating on other networks last Friday.

The image shows no direct signs of being manipulated or edited, but it's a very real possibility to keep in mind.

The image immediately attracted attention as potentially the first sighting of the H-6 carrying the WZ-8, but experts say that is not the case.

The WZ-8 made its first public appearance in 2019 at a parade in Beijing to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Evidence emerged later that year that these drones were actually in operational service at least to a limited degree.

As of 2019, the US military estimates that a sub-variant of the H-6M cruise missile carrier aircraft, sometimes called the H-6MV, is at least one of the launch platforms for the WZ-8. This was revealed in classified documents leaked online last year by members of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.

There is also an air-launched "mothership" variant of the H-6N, which is based on the H-6K version and has been seen carrying various types of ballistic and new air-launched hypersonic missiles.

The H-6N differs from the H-6MV primarily in that the former has a semi-recessed section under the main fuselage to carry larger loads, while the latter carries its loads directly under the fuselage.

The H-6N also features an in-flight refueling probe as found on some examples of the H-6K and otherwise shares the redesigned front end found on that variant.

The H-6Ms have a glazed nose found on earlier versions of the H-6 and the Soviet Tu-16 from which they were derived. There is potential for some overlap in what the H-6MV and H-6N can carry.

It is possible that what is seen in the picture is a new variant of the WZ-8. However, this would be a major redesign that differs significantly from the familiar WZ-8 configuration in terms of both size and shape.

There is also speculation that the H-6 could carry an example of the MD-22 Hypersonic Test Station or a related test missile. The MD-22 model first appeared at the 2022 Zhuhai Fair.