MoD Finds Chinese Component in Royal Navy Sea Drones

The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed that Chinese-made components were discovered in new K3 Scout sea drones during a routine cyber vulnerability assessment.

Investigations revealed that the drone cameras sent heartbeat communications to a Chinese IP address, though officials stated there is no evidence of a data or systems breach.

The supplier, Kraken, provided 20 of these drones to the Royal Navy, which are designed for mission profiles including maritime awareness, force protection, logistics, and precision strikes.