A massive leak of documents on India’s new military submarines from French shipbuilder DCNS is the result of a hack, the country’s defence minister said on Wednesday.
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The over 22,000 pages that have been leaked from DCNS contain information on different aspects of the boat, including its underwater sensors, above-water sensors, combat management system, torpedo launch system and specifications, communications system and navigation systems.While the leaked information is still being analysed to gauge the extent of damage, there is fear that it may compromise the submarine’s detectability. The navy also made clear that the source of the leak was not in India.
The Australian media reports, quoting DCNS, said that the leak of such technical data could not happen with its proposed submarine for Australia.
Six Scorpene submarines are being built in collaboration with French naval contractor DCNS at a cost of United States dollars 3.5 billion.
The submarines are being built at a state-run shipyard in Mumbai and the first one was expected to go into service by the end of year, the first step in the Indian Navy’s effort to rebuild its dwindling fleet. Remaining hidden, or stealth, is considered the most important attribute of a submarine.
Meanwhile, Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has branded the entire incident as a case of hacking.
The information fleshes out details of the speed and conditions needed to use the periscope, the propeller’s noise specifications and the radiated noise levels that occur when the submarine surfaces, the levels of noise they make at various speeds and their diving depths, range and endurance.
“The Australian” reported that the leak was carried out by a French navy personnel on contract with DCNS and the data found its way to a southeast Asian nation before reaching Australia in unprotected format. “So we will find out all this”, Parrikar told reporters here. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull admitted that “any leak of classified information was a concern”. However, some of the documents also date to 2013.
Sources in the Navy also sought to downplay the impact of the leak on the capabilities of the submarine. “Armaris is what DCNS was known as till 2005”.
“We (French authorities) are trying to asses the extent; the nature; the sensitivity of information that may have been leaked, and we will do work in this.in very very close cooperation (and) with full transparency with Indian authorities”, Ziegler said.
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WHAT PARRIKAR IS SAYING: Downplays leak, says it is not as if 100 per cent data has been leaked. Former defence minister A.K. Antony demanded that a high-level inquiry be ordered quickly into the entire episode.
