HONG KONG, Feb. 26 (GeokHub) — A Chinese military drone has conducted multiple flights over the South China Sea while transmitting false transponder signals, making it appear as other aircraft, including a sanctioned Belarusian cargo plane and a British Typhoon fighter jet, according to military attaches and open-source intelligence analysts.
Since August 2025, at least 23 flights using the call sign YILO4200—linked to China’s Wing Loong 2 long-endurance drone—have been logged. Flight paths extended from Hainan toward the Philippines, near the Paracel Islands, and along Vietnam’s coast, frequently flying star- or hourglass-shaped patterns over strategic areas.
Analysts say the operations are likely testing decoy and electronic warfare capabilities, potentially to sow confusion in conflict scenarios or as part of rehearsals for operations over Taiwan. Although the masking is unlikely to deceive military-grade radars fully, it could disrupt adversary response timing and hide sensitive surveillance activity.
“The flights are a kind of deception trial carried out in real time, not accidental,” said Ben Lewis, founder of the open-source platform PLATracker. Singapore-based analyst Alexander Neill added that the flight routes over key maritime chokepoints and Taiwan’s military points of interest suggest preparation for possible contingencies.
China’s Ministry of Defense and the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, which produces the Wing Loong 2, did not comment on the flights.
