Some variants of the Scorpene submarines are also used by Malaysia and Chile while Brazil is also expected to use the same vessels from 2018. DCNS is also under contract to build 12 new submarines for Australia at a cost of $39 billion.
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However, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sought to ease concerns, explaining that while the leak was “of concern”, Australia’s submarines were of a different model from those in the released plans, adding that the information was “some years old”.
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy in a statement on Thursday said that, “Documents 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 secret information consist of 1000 of pages on submarine sensors, 1000 more on communication and navigation systems and 500 pages on the torpedo launch system alone.
According to Reuters, Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told reporters: “I understand there has been a case of hacking”.
Shipmaker DCNS said in a statement that French national security authorities are investigating the size, seriousness and cause of the leak.
As per reports, the information belongs to DCNS, the company that is building India’s Scorpene Submarines.
Within 24 hours of launching an investigation, India has concluded that highly classified details of the Scorpene submarines being built in Mumbai were not leaked from India, said top defence sources to NDTV.
According to the Financial Times, DCNS confirmed the leak, calling it “a serious matter pertaining to the Indian Scorpene programme”.
“Details in the leaked documents regarding Scorpene submarine are not valid because the signature can be known only once the boat goes to sea”, an Indian Navy source said, adding that the specifications mentioned in the document are hypothetical.
So far it is unclear whether the leak occurred in India or in France and how the Australian media obtained the confidential documents.
“Therefore, I don’t see any reason to worry because of the allegation of data leak that was reported because it does not affect our operations or the security of TLDM’s submarines”, Mohd Johari told Malay Mail Online, referring to the Royal Malaysian Navy. The data is then believed to have been taken to a company in Southeast Asia, possibly to assist in a commercial venture for a regional navy.
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The submarines are a scaled-down conventionally powered version of France’s 4,700-tonne Barracuda.
