UK Royal Navy drone cameras secretly transmitted data to Chinese IP address: Telegraph

Key Points

• Cameras on Royal Navy K3 Scout drones transmitted "heartbeat" signals to a Chinese IP address, according to The Telegraph, citing an investigation by Richard Holmes.
• The Ministry of Defence discovered the issue during a routine cyber vulnerability assessment of the approximately $16.2 million fleet, which entered service with the Royal Marines in March.
• Affected drones had been earmarked for a planned deployment to the Strait of Hormuz.

Details of the Breach

Cameras mounted on Royal Navy surveillance drones bound for special forces missions in the Gulf were secretly transmitting signals to an IP address inside China, The Telegraph reported, citing an investigation by the newspaper's Richard Holmes.

The drones in question are Kraken K3 Scout uncrewed surface vessels — roughly 8.4-meter (28-foot) unmanned speedboats built by the British defense company Kraken Technology Group. They are used by the Royal Navy's special forces community, including the Special Boat Service, for surveillance and reconnaissance missions along contested coastlines.

The Telegraph reported that the electro-optical and infrared cameras fitted to the boats — imaging systems that allow operators to see targets in both visible light and heat signatures — contained components sourced from outside the UK. These components were found sending what investigators described as "heartbeat communications" — routine signals confirming a device is powered on and connected — to a device located in China.

Neither The Telegraph nor the Ministry of Defence has publicly identified the camera manufacturer or supplier involved. A separate, unverified claim circulated on social media identified the cameras as Canadian manufacturer Current Scientific Corporation's Night Navigator 3000 series. Current Scientific Corporation has disputed that identification, and The Defence Blog has found no confirmation from The Telegraph or the Ministry of Defence linking that specific product to the breach.

The discovery reportedly took place at the Special Boat Service's headquarters in Poole, Dorset, after the roughly $16.2 million (£12 million) fleet of K3 Scouts entered service with the Royal Marines in March.

Deployment Context and Response

Defense sources told The Telegraph that the affected drones had been earmarked for a planned British deployment to the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply passes — as part of a mission aimed at protecting freedom of navigation for commercial shipping in the region.

The Ministry of Defence said the transmissions were uncovered during a routine cyber vulnerability assessment of the K3 fleet. The department insisted that a subsequent investigation found no evidence that sensitive information or military systems had actually been accessed or compromised. However, as a precaution, the department stripped all internet connectivity from the affected cameras once the issue surfaced.

The K3 Scout and Modernization Efforts

The K3 Scout sits at the center of one of the Royal Navy's most closely watched modernization efforts. The Defence Blog previously reported that the Royal Navy ordered 20 vessels from Kraken in March 2026 under a roughly $16.5 million contract as part of Project Beehive — an initiative designed to build what officials call a "Hybrid Navy." This fleet structure pairs large, conventionally crewed warships like the Type 26 and Type 31 frigates with smaller, disaggregated, autonomous vessels that can be produced and deployed far faster than traditional shipbuilding allows.

Capable of reaching speeds up to 55 knots and operating continuously at sea for 30 days, the K3 Scout can be configured to carry:

• Troops
• Cargo
• Tube-launched loitering munitions (suicide drones)
• Explosives for one-way attack missions

The platform has already drawn interest beyond Britain's own military:

• U.S. Special Operations Command awarded Kraken a $49 million contract in November 2025 to accelerate development of the K3 Scout for American forces.
• Anduril Industries announced in April that it would manufacture two new Kraken-designed vessels at its own U.S. facilities to meet Navy requirements for small, fast uncrewed boats — a partnership that framed Kraken's hull designs as proven and combat-tested.

Statements from Kraken and the Ministry of Defence

Kraken Technology Group, the Portsmouth-based company that builds the K3 Scout, said it had received assurances about the cameras' security before integrating them into the vessels. A company spokesperson addressed the discovery directly:

"We are aware that some third-party, national defence authorisation act-compliant cameras had a small number of components originating from outside the UK. 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 Ministry of Defence offered its own account of how the issue was identified and addressed, though further details were not provided in the original report.