The leak is believed to have compromised the lives of Indian, Malaysian and Chilean navies as the two latter countries also use the same platform for their fleet submarines, manufactured by the French defence contractor.
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Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the leak was a reminder of the importance of cyber security, but rejected concerns it would endanger the contract.
According to The Australian, the document marked “Restricted Scorpene India” details the most sensitive combat capabilities of India’s new submarine fleet and would provide an intelligence bonanza if obtained by India’s strategic rivals, such as Pakistan or China.
India’s Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said he has told the Chief of the Navy to analyse what has been leaked, to find out what the leaked documents say about the submarines they are buying and what impact that will have on India. He, calling it a case of hacking, said the first step was to identify if it is related to us. “This serious matter is thoroughly investigated by the proper French national authorities for Defense Security”, the company said in a statement.
“It appears that the source of leak is from overseas and not in India”, the statement said. The French company also alluded that the leak may have occurred at India’s end, rather than from France.
The leaked documents cover the Scorpene-class model and do not contain any details of the vessel now being designed for the Australian fleet.
Parrikar, at the sidelines of an event on Wednesday morning, said he got information about the alleged leak around midnight.
Sensitive data related to India’s Scorpene submarines has been leaked, with French shipbuilder DCNS which designed the submarine facing a leak of documents spreading over 22,000 pages, a report in Australian media revealed on Tuesday.
Insisting that the inquiry should probe the defence minister and the defence ministry to see whether they had abdicated their responsibility, he said the leak has put a question mark on India’s maritime security.
Australia awarded its submarine contract to DCNS but the secret combat system for the 12 Shortfin Barracudas is being supplied by the United States.
“Although RMN’s KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tun Razak are from the “same” class (with the Indian Navy new submarines), our subs have their own specification details and capabilities”.
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The data was reportedly written in France for the Indian project in 2011 and is suspected of being removed by a former French Navy officer who was a DCNS subcontractor.
