PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has moved to calm concerns about the leak of thousands of pages of secret submarine documents, saying they are a different design to that being built for Australia and are outdated.
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“The stunning leak, which runs to 22,400 pages and has been seen by The Australian, details the entire secret combat capability of the six Scorpene-class submarines that French shipbuilder DCNS has designed for the Indian Navy”, The Australian reported.
The DCNS website says the new vessel would be “the recipient of France’s most sensitive and protected submarine technology and will be the most lethal conventional submarine ever contemplated”.
According to reports, the leak is believed to have originated from a certain former French Navy official connected with DCNS as a subcontractor in India back in 2011. Canberra awarded a $50 billion contract to the French defence contractor in April to design and build 12 Shortfin Barracuda A1 diesel-and-electric-powered submarines to serve Australia.
“The Future Submarine program operates under stringent security requirements that govern the manner in which all information and technical data is managed now and into the future”, he said in a statement.
The federal government has responded to reports the French company that won the $50bn contract to build Australia’s submarines has suffered a big leak of information, claiming it will not affect Australia’s submarine program.
Xenophon said the implications of the leak were massive and called on DCNS and the Australian government to explain what those implications are.
Mr Turnbull said today the leak of any classified information was “of concern”, but said Australia’s new fleet would be a different model and the information was “some years old”.
‘The same requirements apply to the protection of all sensitive information and technical data for the Collins class submarines, and have operated successfully for decades’.
Mr Turnbull said Australia’s plans were significantly different.
“But clearly, it is a reminder that, particularly in this digital world, cybersecurity is of critical importance”, he added.
The DCNS also implied that the leak might have occurred at India’s end, rather than from France.
SA senator Nick Xenophon intends to pursue the the matter when parliament returns next week.
‘This is really quite disastrous, ‘ he told ABC radio.
The documents cover the Scorpene-class model and do not contain any details of the vessel now being designed for the Australian fleet.
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The news will also be of concern to the United States, which is likely to provide the combat systems for Australia’s new submarines.
