LONDON – August 10, 2026 – Cameras fitted to Royal Navy uncrewed surveillance vessels have been secretly sending data to China, according to an investigation by The Telegraph, highlighting ongoing risks of Chinese-made components in Western military systems.
The K3 Scout, a 27-foot multirole uncrewed surface vessel built by British company Kraken Technology Group, has been operated by elements of the Royal Marines since March as part of the Navy’s Project Beehive programme. The cameras on the vessels contained components manufactured in China that were transmitting “heartbeat communications” — routine signals confirming the devices were online and functioning — to an IP address in China.
The Ministry of Defence discovered the issue during a routine cyber vulnerability assessment and immediately removed internet connectivity from the cameras. Officials said a thorough investigation found no evidence that Ministry of Defence data or systems had been accessed, compromised or transmitted externally.
The drones form part of a £12-million fleet intended for surveillance, force protection and other tasks. Kraken Technology Group sourced the cameras from a third-party supplier that had provided security assurances.
Security experts say the incident fits a familiar pattern. Chinese-manufactured components and equipment have repeatedly been found to contain unauthorized communication channels, backdoors or data-exfiltration features when examined by Western defence and intelligence agencies. Similar concerns have previously been raised over telecommunications equipment, surveillance cameras, networking hardware and dual-use technologies, where hidden connections to Chinese servers were discovered after systems were already in use.
In military applications the risks are heightened. Even limited “heartbeat” signals can reveal when equipment is active, its location patterns, and operational tempo — information that can be valuable to a foreign intelligence service. Defence analysts have long warned that reliance on Chinese-sourced parts in critical systems creates opportunities for persistent access or intelligence collection that may only be detected years later, if at all.
The revelation has renewed calls for tighter supply-chain controls and greater scrutiny of foreign components in British and allied military programmes. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “Our assurance and testing processes are designed to identify and address potential vulnerabilities early, and we continue to undertake routine security activity across our systems and equipment.”
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