Manohar Parrikar asks Navy Chief to probe Scorpene-class submarines documents leak

New Delhi: In a major security concern, the French company, which is building six Scorpene-class submarines for the Indian navy, has suffered a massive leak of secret documents.

A report published in The Australian says that around 22,400 pages of secret documents have been leaked from French shipbuilder DCNS.

The leak of the classified documents, whih were marked as “Restricted Scorpene India”, is a big worry for India, as if the papers somehow land in Pakistan or China, it would be a disaster for the national security.

The DCNS documents detail the most sensitive combat capabilities of India’s new USD 03 billion submarine fleet.

According to the report, “The leaked DCNS data details the secret stealth capabilities of the six new Indian submarines, including what frequencies they gather intelligence at, what levels of noise they make at various speeds and their diving depths, range and endurance — all sensitive information that is highly classified. The data tells the submarine crew where on the boat they can speak safely to avoid ­detection by the enemy. It also discloses magnetic, electromagnetic and infra-red data as well as the specifications of the submarine’s torpedo launch system and the combat system.”

Reacting on the Scorpene submarine leak, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said, “This came to my knowledge at 12 midnight, it is a case of hacking.”

"First step is to identify if its related to India, and anyway its not all 100 percent leak," Parrikar asserted.

"The Navy Chief (Admiral Sunil Lanba) has been asked to analyse what exactly has been leaked," the minister said, adding his first assessment was that it was an act of hacking and not a 100-percent leak. "We do have our final integration and all that," he added.

A case of suspected leak of documents related to Scorpene submarines has been reported by a foreign media house. 

Menawhile, a statement issued by the Indian Navy said: "The available information is being examined at Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy) and an analysis is being carried out by the concerned specialists. It appears that the source of leak is from overseas and not in India."

Kalvari' (Tiger Shark), the first of the six French Scorpene class submarines being built at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd for the Indian Navy, went to sea in May 2016.