China has been flying a large military drone over the South China Sea while broadcasting false electronic signals that make it appear to be other aircraft, including a Belarusian cargo jet and a British Typhoon fighter, according to flight data reviewed by analysts.
Military attaches and security experts say at least 23 such flights have been recorded since August under the call sign YILO4200, linked to a Wing Loong 2 drone flying from Qionghai Boao airport on Hainan island. The drone’s transponder repeatedly used registration codes belonging to genuine foreign aircraft, a tactic they believe is a real time test of deception methods that could be used in a conflict over Taiwan.
The flights trace long, looping routes over sensitive areas of the South China Sea, including waters near Chinese submarine bases, the Philippines, Vietnam and towards the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines, a key naval choke point. Analysts say the patterns resemble rehearsals that could later be overlaid on Taiwan’s airspace, passing near military sites around Taipei and along the island’s southern coast, as well as close to US and Japanese bases in Okinawa.
Open source intelligence specialists say recoding a transponder to broadcast another aircraft’s 24 bit address is technically possible, though such systematic masking has not been seen before. The real Belarusian Il 62 cargo plane whose identity was copied remained active with a different call sign and was once airborne at the same time as the Chinese drone, underlining that the signals were deliberately falsified.
Security analysts warn that while radar and air traffic controllers are unlikely to be fully fooled, such operations could cause dangerous confusion during a crisis, hide surveillance missions or be used for propaganda and misinformation. One regional expert described them as part of a wider toolkit to “muddy the waters” in any confrontation, where even milliseconds in the decision chain can matter.
China’s defence ministry has not commented on the flights. The Wing Loong 2, made by state linked Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, is a long endurance drone similar to the US Reaper, capable of surveillance, missile strikes and command and control roles.
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