The leak, which was first reported in the Australian newspaper, contains more than 22,000 pages outlining the secret capabilities of six submarines that French builder DCNS has designed for the Indian Navy.
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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”.
Though sources confirm that the leaked papers have similarity to one of the submarine versions discussed with the French naval contractor DCNS, many specifications were changed in the final version.
Highly sensitive details of documents, detailing the secret combat capabilities of six submarines being built in Mumbai, have been leaked.
They also included thousands of pages on the submarine sensors and thousands more on its communication and navigation systems, as well as almost 500 pages on the torpedo launch system alone.
Scorpene class submarines has been build in India Kalvari first time and went for trial in May 2016, it is expected to be soon inducted in Indian Navy. “The matter is being taken up with concerned foreign governments through diplomatic channels to verify the authenticity of the reports”, the release added.
The leaked data was subsequently passed by a third party to a second company in the region before being sent on a data disk to a company in Australia.
Today, a source in the French government told Reuters that the papers were not leaked, but were in fact stolen in 2011 by a former French employee training navy personnel in India. “However, in the case of Australia, DCNS is both the provider and in-country controller of technical data for the full chain of transmission and usage over the life of the submarines”, DCNS was quoted as saying by The Daily.
The country’s prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the leak was a reminder of the importance of cyber security, but claimed that Australia, where the 4,500-tonne Shortfin Barracuda submarines will be built, has “high security standards”-an assertion called into question in the recent census debacle. So we will find out all this”, Parrikar had said”.
An official from the Indian Navy, who did not want to be named, said the specifications in the documents are generic, and each boat has a unique signature that is known only when it is ready and in the waters.
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DCNS said that they are aware about information has leaked in Australian press and “national security authorities” had launched an inquiry into on the matter without giving any details.
