Embarrassment in the Kingdom: British special forces' classified drones 'talked' to China
Royal Navy vessels and spy drones, worth approximately £12 million, transmitted 'heartbeat signals' to an IP address in China. The cameras were disconnected from the network, and there are concerns in the UK about the exposure of elite unit personnel.
A serious and embarrassing incident is causing a storm in the British defense establishment: unmanned maritime vessels and spy drones of the Royal Navy, used by the kingdom's elite units, were secretly transmitting data to China. This was revealed by the British newspaper 'The Telegraph'.
According to the report, the cameras installed on the K3 Scout vessels contained components manufactured in China. These components secretly transmitted 'heartbeat signals' — routine data confirming that the system is online and functioning properly — to an IP address inside China. The fleet of vessels, estimated to cost around £12 million, has been in use by the Royal Marines since last March. Following the discovery of the security breach, the UK Ministry of Defence was forced to completely disconnect the cameras' internet connection.
The vessels were supplied by a major British defense contractor, Kraken Technology, which purchased the cameras from a third party that provided guarantees regarding their security. A security source familiar with the details told 'The Telegraph' that the vessels were intended to take part in a future UK program to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.
'This is a serious failure in checking the origin of the components, and we have lost confidence in the platform,' the source noted.
In the British defense establishment, there is growing concern that personnel with high security clearance at the Special Boat Service headquarters have been exposed, as there are claims that the cameras remained active even when the vessels themselves were turned off. The UK Ministry of Defence, for its part, insisted that there is no evidence that sensitive information or system data leaked outside the country's borders, and emphasized that it takes information security very seriously. Kraken also stated that after a comprehensive review by the Navy, it is confident that no sensitive information was shared.
The current discovery joins a series of incidents illustrating the growing threat from Beijing, despite the new Labour government's attempts to thaw relations with the Chinese Communist Party. The Conservative opposition was quick to call on the government to conduct an 'urgent audit' of all military equipment to detect hidden Chinese traces, against the backdrop of warnings from the MI5 intelligence agency regarding espionage and influence attempts.
