The Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) today said the data leak did not take place from its end and that it was assisting the Navy in the probe.
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“The Government of India is seized of the reported leak of documents related to the ongoing Indian Scorpene submarine programme as reported in sections of the media”.
India’s defence ministry said on Thursday that it saw no immediate security risk and the French government said the information in the documents only showed how the submarines operate and did not compromise their security.
The French government source said security procedures would be strengthened for all employees going to work in Australia to ensure one person did not have access to so many documents.
French shipbuilder DCNS on Wednesday said leak of sensitive data on building Scorpene submarine was “serious matter”, and that investigation would determine the damage and the who were behind the affair.
“This is so because the leakage of so much technical details compromises the submarines capability to stay undetected”, he said. “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”.
More than 22,000 pages of top secret data on the submarines, designed by French defence contractor DCNS, had been leaked, The Australian had reported.
The data leak raised concern over security of the company’s big projects and may affect other contract notably the “historic” 40-billion-U.S. -dollar accord to build a fleet of 12 new submarines for Australia.
INS Kalvari, first of the Scorpene-class submarines, is expected to be inducted into the Indian Navy later this year.
The navy is also conducting an internal audit to eliminate the possibility of any security compromise.
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“The Indian Navy has taken up the matter with Director General of Armament of the French Government expressing concern over this incident and has requested the French Government to investigate this incident with urgency and share their findings with the Indian side”, according to an August 25 Indian Navy statement. Apart from sending shockwaves in the Indian defence establishment, it has also alarmed countries such as Malaysia, Chile and Brazil, which are either operating or have ordered a variant of the Scorpene, reports said.
