Germany has banned commercially available Chinese-made drones from its military bases and training grounds due to security concerns, according to reports.
Western military forces have grown increasingly concerned that Chinese-made technology could pose a security risk and may be used to transmit sensitive information to Beijing.
Germany's drone ban, effective immediately, follows the US military banning China's BYD electric vehicles from its Kadena airbase on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Kadena, the biggest US air force base in east Asia, would be directly involved in responding to a crisis involving China, Russia or North Korea.
The German newspaper Der Spiegel reported that the drones, acquired by military units in recent years with limited bureaucratic oversight, are being withdrawn from service as quickly as possible. The defence ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Local commanders had been allowed to buy the drones under a 2024 strategy that included a "white list" of approved systems, including several made by the China-based DJI, the world's largest drone maker.
As there is no central record of purchases by individual units, the military has to impose a blanket ban, Der Spiegel reported.
In February, Poland barred Chinese-made vehicles from entering its military facilities over concerns that onboard sensors could be used to collect sensitive data.
The army said Chinese-made vehicles may still be allowed on to secured sites if specified functions are disabled and other safeguards required under each facility's security rules are in place.
When the US military announced its ban on BYD vehicles entering Kadena airbase, Lt Col Alli Stormer, a spokesperson for the US air force, said: "These vehicles present an unacceptable and unmitigable risk to our personnel and our mission."
American military officials have not identified a specific threat, but the ban is part of wider measures taken to restrict Chinese smart technology in vehicles, mobile phones and other devices they fear could be used to "spy" on their owners.
In safety advice issued in September, the Dutch government said smart features built into modern vehicles – including microphones, cameras and GPS trackers – could be used by hostile states to spy on people. The warning from the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service did not mention countries or manufacturers by name.
That alert followed reports last year that British defence firms working for the UK government had cautioned staff against connecting or pairing their phones with Chinese-made electric cars, owing to fears that Beijing could extract sensitive data from the devices.
Last week, a group of MEPs urged the European Commission to assess whether BYD cars posed a security threat and should be subject to restrictions, such as excluding them from public procurement purchases.
In written questions, 14 parliamentarians asked that the EU's cybersecurity agency assess the level of threat and potentially include BYD on a list of high-risk suppliers.
François Kalfon, the French MEP leading the push, wrote in a preamble to the questions that China's 2017 national intelligence law required companies to cooperate with the state. "Allowing connected vehicles from third countries to access sensitive European infrastructure therefore poses an unacceptable security risk," he wrote.
In a statement, BYD said no data processed or stored, whether in the cloud or within a vehicle, could be remotely accessed from China, and that customers remained in control of their data. "BYD Europe does not make such data available to BYD entities or third parties in China."
In 2018, the US defence department banned the use of smartphones from the Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE at military bases worldwide, citing security concerns.