Confidential data about the Scorpene submarine, to be included in the Indian navy, leaked

New Delhi/Sydney : A great deal of concern has been caused by the news of the secret information about the French make “Scorpene” submarine, to be included in the Indian Navy, having been leaked. The Scorpene-class submarines are being built for the Indian Navy with the assistance of the French firm ‘DCNS’. An Australian daily ‘The Australian’ reported that it has obtained some confidential documents in this regard. Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar has suggested that this incident of leak of confidential papers could be a case of hacking and has ordered an inquiry. The Indian navy has claimed that the leak of information has happened outside India.

In 2005, considering the long term needs of the Indian navy, the ‘France Naval Defense and Energy Company’ (DCNS) was given a contract for building 6 submarines worth a total value of three and a half billion dollars. For various reasons, the project got delayed. The first submarine in this class – INS Kalavari- was inaugurated last April by the Indian defense minister Parrikar. After several tests, INS Kalavari was to be included in the Indian naval contingent by the year end; and before this could happen, the sensitive information about this submarine in the ‘Scorpene’ -class has been leaked.

The ‘Scorpene’-class submarine is considered to be lethal for enemies. It is a matter of grave concern that important information about the submarine has been leaked, when five more submarines in this class are being built in Mumbai’s Mazagaon docks. According to the news published by ‘The Australian’, it has in its possession around 22,400 pages of papers titled ‘Restricted Scorpene India’; and this seems to have landed the French company in deep trouble.