Telegraph: Cameras on British naval drones transmitted data to China
British military boats designed for operations in In the Persian Gulf, they were equipped with cameras with Chinese components, writes The Telegraph. The devices allegedly secretly transmitted data to China — however, London assures that there was no leak.
Richard Holmes
Spy drones of elite special forces units of the Royal Navy of Great Britain secretly sent data to China, The Telegraph reports.
It turned out that the cameras on the K3 Scout drones with Chinese-made components transmitted information to a device in China. The Royal Marines have been using the £12 million fleet since March, and after discovering the breach, the Ministry of Defence had to disconnect all cameras from the Internet.
The revelation has sparked new fears that Beijing is spying on the British military — after years of warnings about the threat.
The drones were supplied by a major British defense contractor, Kraken Technology Group, and the company itself received cameras from a third party that provided appropriate security guarantees.
The investigation revealed that the cameras were transmitting periodic signals or "pulses" — data confirming that they were connected to the network and functioning normally — to an IP address in China. The Ministry of Defense assured that there was no evidence that any confidential data had been sent abroad.
However, the disclosure nevertheless raised new concerns about national security — in particular, employees of the headquarters of the Special Boat Service (SLS) in Poole, Dorset, with access to state secrets, could have been compromised.
An informed source in the Ministry of Defense told The Telegraph that the K3 drones are part of a defense package prepared by the UK to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The source said that preparations for potential operations in the Persian Gulf were conducted using drones, admitting: "This is a serious mistake in determining the origin of the components, and we have lost confidence in the platform."
In addition, there are concerns that the surveillance drones were located near particularly important meetings between senior special forces officers and that the cameras remained on even when the drones themselves were inactive.
The Ministry of Defense assured that it takes "the security of equipment, networks and data extremely seriously," and ruled out compromising any military data. However, the Tories called on the government to conduct an "urgent inspection" of the equipment for hidden Chinese traces.
The Labor Party is trying to "reset" relations
This unpleasant discovery occurred against the backdrop of a growing threat from Beijing, despite the efforts of the Labor government to "unfreeze" relations with the ruling Communist Party of China.
Last year, MI5 warned members of parliament that Chinese intelligence was "relentlessly interfering" and "trying to influence" the work of parliament, including by using business social networks like LinkedIn to collect confidential information. A few weeks earlier, the case against two people, including a parliamentary researcher, accused of spying for China, failed due to the unwillingness of the Labor government to brand Beijing as an enemy.
In 2020, the conservative government banned Chinese phone manufacturer Huawei from using the UK's 5G network for security reasons. The government revoked Huawei's earlier approval after security officials in Washington warned of the risk of espionage, separately noting China's strict national security laws.
Since then, a number of identified supply chain vulnerabilities have forced the Ministry of Defense to remove Chinese equipment and cameras from classified premises. Last month, The Telegraph newspaper reported that the SLS had banned Chinese-made electric vehicles from its headquarters due to similar espionage concerns.
Downing Street has begun a diplomatic reset of relations with Beijing with a series of high-profile visits in the hope of concluding lucrative trade agreements. Earlier this year, the government approved plans to create a Chinese "super-council" at the Royal Mint in central London, despite concerns about the proximity of important communications.
A few weeks later, Jimmy Lai, a British citizen, democracy advocate and media mogul from Hong Kong, was sentenced to 20 years in prison under the controversial national security law.
A Ministry of Defense spokesman said: "The current cyber vulnerability assessment has identified a problem with one of the subsystems of the Royal Navy's Kraken unmanned boat. A thorough investigation revealed no signs of third-party access to the data or systems of the Ministry of Defense and their compromise."
"Our verification and testing processes are aimed at early identification and elimination of potential vulnerabilities, and we continue to carry out ongoing measures to ensure the security of our systems and equipment," he said in a statement.
Shadow Security Minister Alicia Kearns said: "If we cannot say with certainty what is inside our own military equipment, we have no right to talk about sovereignty. When it turns out that cameras made of Chinese parts record the actions of our special forces — their faces, the preparation process and operations — then we should not be surprised, but be enraged that we still have not realized the scale of the threat."
The revealed violation is a serious obstacle to the implementation of the Beehive naval project ("Beehive"), a program to create a combined fleet of unmanned vessels and traditional warships.
The Royal Navy has acquired K3 scout boats from Kraken for its surface flotilla. The ships are under the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard Squadron and the 47th Special Forces Unit of the Royal Marines and are designed to modernize the UK's combat capabilities and keep up with opponents.
The K3 Scout model with a load capacity of up to 600 kilograms is designed for continuous operation for 30 days. The boats were also acquired by the US Special Operations Command and participated in NATO exercises in the Baltic.
The government has promised to allocate five billion pounds for unmanned technologies in order to actively introduce military innovations and make the procurement process "unabashedly British." However, The Telegraph's findings highlight China's dominant role in supply chains, even if the equipment is claimed to be British.
A Kraken Technology Group spokesman said: "We are aware that some third-party cameras that are compliant with the National Defense Budget Act contain a small number of components manufactured outside the UK. After a full review conducted by both Kraken and the Royal Navy, we are confident that no confidential information was transmitted outside the proper channels, and all potential vulnerabilities were identified and fixed."
Compliance with the requirements of the Law on Budget Allocations for National Defense implies the absence of components from undesirable manufacturers.
