British military drones have come under attention after a report claimed that Chinese-made cameras fitted in Royal Navy K3 surveillance drones were sending signals to an internet address in China. The drones were part of a defense package linked to Britain’s plans to help secure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and they had already been used in preparations for the Gulf mission.
According to the report, the issue was found in drones used by the elite Royal Marines and supplied through Kraken Technology Group, a British defense contractor. The cameras were obtained from a third-party supplier that had given assurances about their security, but an investigation later found “heartbeat communications” from the devices to an IP address in China. Those signals were said to confirm that the cameras were online and functioning normally.
The Ministry of Defence has rejected the suggestion that sensitive information was exposed. An MoD spokesperson said a routine cyber vulnerability assessment found an issue involving a Kraken Unmanned Surface Vessel subsystem, but that a thorough investigation found no evidence that MoD data or systems were accessed, compromised, or transmitted externally. After the problem was identified, internet connectivity was removed from the cameras.
The report has revived wider concerns in Britain about Chinese-linked components in strategic systems. The K3 Scout model has also been bought by the US Special Operations Command and has taken part in NATO trials in the Baltic, which has added to the sensitivity around the case. Conservative figures have called for an urgent audit of military equipment for hidden Chinese parts and other vulnerabilities.
The controversy also fits into a longer pattern of British security warnings about China. The UK banned Huawei from its 5G network in 2020 over national security concerns, while MI5 later warned lawmakers that Chinese intelligence services were trying to interfere with and influence Parliament. In that context, the drone-camera episode is likely to intensify pressure on the government to tighten supply-chain checks and reassure allies that Britain’s military systems remain secure.
