An image has emerged on Chinese social media platforms suggesting that a variant of the naval Harbin Z-20 helicopter may be under development for use by the People's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps (PLANMC). The image emerged around 12 January and shows the aircraft in flight carrying anti-tank guided weapons (ATGWs). These appear to be KD-10 missiles, which are not known to have an anti-ship role. The YJ-9 is the anti-ship missile used by the Z-9 helicopter currently in naval service, which is an active-radar-guided weapon for use against small ships and fast attack craft. The airframe in the recent photograph bears the tail number '6212', which indicates that it is one of two pre-production utility variant helicopters that were first seen in images posted in 2019. The utility variant is one of the two versions of the naval Z-20, the other being an anti-submarine-warfare-capable variant fitted with a distinctive disc-shaped radome under the cockpit floor.
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