The footage shows three eight-wheeled flat-top trucks driving on to what appears to be an airfield runway. Once aligned and connected via mechanical hinges, they form a continuous platform, along which a fixed-wing propeller drone accelerates and takes off.

The Beijing Institute of Technology’s (BIT) school of mechanical engineering posted the video to social media on Tuesday – about six months after the system was first seen aboard the cargo vessel Zhong Da 79 at a Shanghai shipyard.

The post appears to have been deleted.

The late-December sighting attracted much attention, with photographs showing a range of military equipment, including vertical missile launchers, radar sensors and self-defence systems, all integrated into modified freight containers.

A screenshot of the video showing the Zhong Da 79 being loaded with containerised systems. Photo: BIT/WeChat

The new video also features a scene of the latest containerised modules revealed in Tuesday’s post – including the segmented electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) – being loaded onto the Zhong Da 79.