A new report says drones used by Britain’s Royal Navy were transmitting information to China.
According to The Telegraph, cameras on K3 spy drones contained Chinese-made components that were used to send data to China.
The Telegraph quoted a source that said the incident was a “major failure to check origins of components and we have lost confidence in the platform.”
The report said there are concerns the cameras could have been conducting surveillance on British service members by virtue of proximity to secret British military activities.
The UK Ministry of Defense has discovered that the Royal Navy’s new fleet of spy drones, being operated by elements of the Royal Marines since March, have been secretly transmitting information from the drone’s primary camera to China, according to an investigation from The… pic.twitter.com/8ok38w9Vx1
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 10, 2026
A Kraken Technology Group representative denied any such incident happened.
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“We are aware that some third-party, NDAA-compliant cameras had a small number of components originating from outside the UK,” the representative said.
“After a full audit by both Kraken and the Royal Navy we are confident no sensitive information has ever been shared outside of intended channels and any potential vulnerabilities have been identified and closed,” the representative said.
‘China is not a friendly nation. It is an increasingly antagonistic communist superpower’
Read the Telegraph’s View on Chinese surveillance drones spying on the British Armed Forces ⬇️https://t.co/s8QYbuMs5x pic.twitter.com/pbvaYtNLnt
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 11, 2026
Immediately after the vulnerability was found, Britain shut off all internet connections available to the cameras, according to the website Defense Express.
Shadow Security Minister Alicia Kearns said: “If we cannot say with confidence what is inside our own military equipment, we cannot say it is ours, or that we are sovereign,” according to GB News.
“When cameras built on Chinese parts are found recording our special forces — their faces, training and operations — we should not be surprised, we should be furious that we still haven’t woken up to the realities of the threat we face,” she said.
🚨 BREAKING:
It was discovered that the Chinese-made surveillance drones used by Britain’s elite special forces are equipped with cameras that secretly send data to China. pic.twitter.com/jU7WXIowiI
— GBC (@GBC_Press) August 10, 2026
The issue was detected during a “routine cyber vulnerability assessment,” a Ministry of Defense representative said, according to Newsweek.
“A thorough investigation found no evidence of MOD data or systems being accessed, compromised or transmitted externally,” the official said.
“The first duty of government is national security, and we take the security of our equipment, networks and data extremely seriously,” the official added.
GB News reported that multiple British allies, including the United States, use the drones.
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