New Delhi: The Scorpene-class submarine’ capabilities, strengths and weaknesses stood exposed on Wednesday as on the the public domain,
A French company dealing with naval defence products and energy, DCNS is 64 per cent state-owned while Thales owns 35 per cent and one per cent is employee-owned. Reacting to the leak, DCNS said: “This serious matter is thoroughly investigated by the proper French national authorities for defence security.” Defence minister Manohar Parrikar has sought a report from Navy chief Adm. Sunil Lanba on the issue.
Saying that a final picture will emerge only in a couple of days, the minister said: “I have asked the Navy chief to study the entire issue about what has been leaked, what is there about us and to what extent. It came to my knowledge at about 12 am. What I understand is there is a hacking. So we will find out all this.” Mr Parrikar added that he did not suspect the leak to be 100 per cent since a lot of final integration lies with India.
While defence ministry sources said the Navy has been told to ask DCNS to probe the leak, the Indian Navy said in a release: “The available information is being examined at Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy), and an analysis is being carried out by specialists. It appears the source of leak is from overseas and not in India.”
The Navy sources also claimed that the document was dated and the Indian submarine had undergone “many changes” from the initial design, the details of which have been leaked.
The leak has also cast a shadow over DCNS’ contract to design Australia’s new submarine fleet. Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull admitted that “any leak of classified information was a concern”.
The Australian daily’s report said that the data on the Scorpene was written in France for India in 2011 and is suspected of being removed from France in that same year by a former French Navy officer who was at that time a DCNS subcontractor. However, some of the documents also date to 2013. MoD sources also told this newspaper: “It appears that our papers are different from the leaked ones. The papers we have mentions the company’s name as DCNS while the leaked papers have the name ‘Armaris’. Armaris is what DCNS was known as till 2005.” French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler said authorities in France are taking the leak of data very seriously
Submarine files
What is scorpene?
The scorpene is a conventional-propulsion submarine designed and developed by DCNS for all types of mission, such as surface vessel warfare, anti-submarine warfare, long-range strikes, special operations or intelligence gathering.
How many submarines India has?
India has a fleet of 13 ageing submarines, only half of which are operational at any time, opening up a major gap with China.
Kalvari commissioned in 1967
The first Kalvari, the first Indian submarine, was commissioned on December 8, 1967 and decommissioned on May 31, 1996
What has happened?
Sensitive documents detailing the technical and stealth capabilities of Scorpene submarines project have been leaked.
What can the data be used for?
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 submarines torpedo launch system and the combat system.
It details the speed and conditions needed for using the periscope, the noise specifications of the propeller and the radiated noise levels when the sub surfaces.
Data trail
The data was thought to have been removed from France in 2011 by a former French navy officer who at the time was a subcontractor for DCNS. The data may have passed through firms in Southeast Asia before being mailed to a company in Australia
Leak in Numbers
4,457 pages on the submarine’s underwater sensors.
4,209 pages on its above-water sensors.
4,301 pages on its combat management system.
6,841 pages on the sub's communications system.
2,138 on its navigation systems.
493 pages on its torpedo launch system
