British Military Embarrassed After Chinese Drone Parts Sent Data Back to China

An embarrassment for the British military. The newspaper “The Telegraph” reported today (Monday) that unmanned vessels and surveillance drones used by elite British Army units had secretly transmitted data to China.

According to the report, Britain purchased Chinese-made camera components installed on K3 Scout vessels and intelligence-gathering drones. An inspection found that the components had secretly transmitted “heartbeat signals” — routine data confirming that a system is online and functioning properly — to an IP address in China. After the security breach was discovered, the British military was forced to disconnect the cameras from the internet.

A security source told “The Telegraph” that the vehicles were intended to take part in Britain’s future plan to safeguard 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 said.

British security officials expressed concern that crew members with high-level security clearance at the Special Boat Service headquarters may have been exposed. In response to the newspaper’s inquiry, the military said that “there is no evidence that sensitive information or system data leaked beyond the country’s borders.”