“The documents that have been posted on the website by an Australian news agency have been examined and do not pose any security compromise as the vital parameters have been blacked out”, the navy said.
Advertisement
DCNS said national security authorities had launched an inquiry to determine the precise nature of the documents which had been leaked and the potential damage to customers.
Six Scorpenes designed by the French shipbuilder DCNS are being built in Mumbai, India, and first one is expected to join service this year.
An Australian newspaper published Wednesday more than 22,000 pages relating to the submarine’s combat capabilities. “So we will find out all this”, Parrikar told reporters in Delhi.
DCNS, whose two-third is owned by the French government, will be designing 12 new submarines for Australia; deal is worth 50 bn USA dollars, and the leak might compromise the security of classified data on the submarines, as per the report.
However the daily said the data was thought to have been removed from France in 2011 by a former French navy officer who at the time was a subcontractor for DCNS.
Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was quoted by media sources as saying: “I understand there has been a case of hacking”.
In this handout photograph released by The Indian Navy on May 1, 2016, India’s Scorpene Class Submarine “Kalivari” takes part in its maiden sea trials off the coast of Mumbai on May 1, 2016.
“What I understand is that there is hacking”, Mr. Parrikar said, adding that the data can not be complete as the final assembly is done by India. “The competition is more and more hard and all means can be used in this context”.
As reported by CNN, this breach is likely to extend beyond India: Chile, Malaysia, and Brazil have ordered versions of the Scorpene, and DCNS is under contract to build 12 submarines for Australia.
The leaked documents list out the frequencies at which the submarines gather intelligence and the levels of noise the subs make at various speeds, the news report said.
The defence ministry said in a statement it was investigating the impact of the leak on the submarine programme which it said had occurred from overseas.
“With a coastline of 7, 517 km to defend with only 13 submarines which are almost 20 years old and one nuclear submarine which is on lease from Russian Federation, it appears that Modi Government is living in absolute denial vis a vis the security of this country”, he said. The data leak reported by The Australian pertains to these very submarines.
Advertisement
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sought to deflect concerns about the leak, touting the high security standards in Australia, where the submarine will be built.
