UK's Royal Navy sea drones contain component that secretly sent data to China, report claims — government cuts camera connectivity and insists data wasn’t sensitive, only ‘heartbeat communications’

K3 Scout surveillance drones used by the UK’s Royal Navy contain components that have been secretly transmitting data to China, according to reports. The Telegraph’s revelations suggest that the sea drones include a camera component that would send the data to China. However, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) says that it has removed all internet connectivity from the cameras after discovering the breach. The transmitted data was also limited in scope, insists the MoD, which characterized the transmissions as “heartbeat communications” to simply verify the device is online and working normally.

Western governments have been seeking to minimize the ingress of Chinese technology into sensitive and critical infrastructure for some years now. The pushback started with investigations into rising telecom brands like Huawei and ZTE, which became very successful with their cheap and efficient equipment in the West.

More recently, we have seen pushback affecting Chinese drone companies, as the utility and value of drones have become incredibly clear in the Russia – Ukraine war. Western allies obviously don’t want drones with potential Chinese backdoors, killswitches, or so on inside them. However, even manufacturers in China’s fiercest foe, Taiwan, recently admitted that its drone-making operations were still dependent on Chinese components.

Returning to the topic of drones, specifically, the sea drones in the Telegraph story were reportedly acquired by a major British defense contractor, Kraken Technology Group. The same company “sourced the cameras from a third party who had given assurances about their security,” says the newspaper. But an unnamed Telegraph source told the paper that this security lapse was a “major failure,” meaning that confidence in the platform has been lost. It even goes on to say that there are concerns that these drones could have snooped on highly sensitive special military forces meetings, even when switched off.

An MoD spokesperson told The Telegraph that the issues with the Chinese cameras were identified during a routine cyber vulnerability assessment. That seems like evidence of good practice, showing proactive testing and assurance procedures are in place. Moreover, the investigation “found no evidence of MoD data or systems being accessed, compromised or transmitted externally.” That didn’t stop The Telegraph or shadow (opposition party) ministers from being “furious” about the revelations, though.

The K3 Scout drone can carry a 600kg payload at sea for 30 days continuously. The Royal Marines have been using a £12 million fleet of these drones since March and offered to deploy them to secure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Special Operations Command also has K3 Scout drones, and these drones have been used by allies in NATO trials in the Baltic Sea.

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