The reported leak of the sensitive details of the combat capabilities of the Scorpene submarines has sent shock waves across the country’s defense establishment as also in Australia and some other countries.
Their long-term naval preparedness could be adversely affected by the appearances of nearly 22,000 pages of the sensitive documents in an Australian newspaper, said experts.
India is acquiring six submarines worth over 3.5 billion dollars in collaboration with French shipbuilder DCNS. The Six submarines are under construction at Mazagaon Docks limited (MDl), Mumbai and the first submarine is expected to join the Navy in October this year.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has asked Navy Chief Admiral Sunil lanba to ascertain the veracity of the reports appearing in Australian newspaper ‘The Australian.’ The Ministry and the Navy said the source of the leak appeared to be from “overseas and not India.”
Also, Parrikar said it seems to be a case of “hacking” adding, a clear picture will emerge in the next few days after the Navy analyses the papers.
India has also sought details about the ‘leak’ from the DCNS which recently inked a 38 billion dollar deal for building 12 submarines for Australian Navy. Sources said this leak could be part of a corporate war. However, these submarines are different from Scorpene submarines of India. India and France had inked this deal in 2005, and the construction was dogged by repeated delays.
While Navy and Defence Ministry tried to play down the impact of the “leak”, French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler said authorities in France are taking the leak of data very seriously and that they will work in close cooperation with India.
The classified papers now in public domain give details of stealth capabilities of the submarine, frequencies at which they gather intelligence at, levels of noise they make at various speeds and their diving depths, range and endurance.
The Australian said the documents were “marked” “Restricted Scorpene India.”
In a statement issued from France, the DSCN said, “We have been made aware of articles published in the Australian press related to the leakage of sensitive data about Indian Scorpene. This serious matter is thoroughly being investigated by the proper French national authorities for Defense Security. This investigation will determine the exact nature of the leaked documents, the potential damages to DCNS customers as well as the responsibilities for this leakage”.
The data talks about how the submarine crew 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, The Australian said.
It details the speed and conditions needed for using the periscope, the noise specifications of the propeller and the radiated noise levels that occur when the submarine surfaces. The data, accessed by the paper, includes 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, 493 pages on its torpedo launch system and specifications, 6,841 pages on the sub’s communications system and 2,138 on its navigation systems.
To allay apprehensions that secrecy was compromised, the Navy officials said the initial scanning of some leaked documents showed that the technical details put out by the newspaper did not match with the navy’s own documents.
The leaked documents specifying these technical specifications pertain to 2011. They were revised and edited several times over the years, they said.
In fact, this so-called mismatch in the leaked documents and the Navy papers has led to confusion. The Defence Ministry officials said it would take the time to authenticate the leaked papers. Maintaining that this issue will not hamper the Scorpene project, even if the technical details become public, the Navy takes a final call in fashioning the operating doctrine.
Elaborating upon this aspect, they said once the submarine is inducted into service, the Navy will finalise the technical and operational doctrine besides the exploitation manual.
Giving an example, officials said the speed of the submarine underwater and depth to which it will dive and take evasive action would be decided by the Navy adding no two submarines are similar have different signatures under water.
Moreover, integration plan of weapon systems had also changed, and its integration was yet to take place after original torpedo selected was rejected as it was manufactured by one of the companies owned by Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica. It was banned in the wake of Augusta Westland VVIP helicopter scam.
Parrikar 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.”
The Defence Minister said he does not suspect the leak to be 100 per cent since a lot of final integration lies with India.
In a statement, the Navy said, “A case of suspected leak of documents related to Scorpene submarines has been reported by a foreign media house. The available information is being examined at Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy) and analysis is being carried out by the concerned specialists. It appears that the source of the leak is from overseas and not in India.”
Congress leader and former Defence Minister, A K Antony, said the leak is a matter of “very serious concern” to the country and said the Government must immediately order a high-level enquiry, find out the truth “after that we can consider future course of action. Don’t waste time immediately find out the truth,” he said.
Meanwhile, reacting to the report, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it was important to note the submarine DCNS was building for India was a completely different model to the one it would build for Australia and the leaked information was a few years out of date. “Nevertheless, any leak of classified information was a concern,” he was quoted as saying, reports PTI.
The Australian reported that DCNS on Tuesday sought to reassure Australia that the leak of the data on the Indian Scorpene submarine would not happen with its proposed submarine for that country. The company also implied that the leak might have occurred at India’s end, rather than from France.
“Uncontrolled technical data is not possible in the Australian arrangements,” the company said. “Multiple and independent controls exist within DCNS to prevent unauthorised access to data and all data movements are encrypted and recorded. In the case of India, where a DCNS design is built by a local company, DCNS is the provider and not the controller of technical data,” the company said.
The Australian has been told 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.
“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. It was subsequently passed by a third party to a second company in the region before being sent on a data disk by regular mail to a company in Australia.
“It is unclear how widely the data has been shared in Asia or whether it has been obtained by foreign intelligence agencies,” it said. However, some of the documents also date to 2013.