New Delhi:

Highlights
Secret combat capability of 6 Scorpene submarines leaked
Submarines being built in Mumbai for $3.5 billion with French firm
Navy says leak happened "outside India", France investigating
Highly sensitive details on what makes six submarines being built in Mumbai so c
rucial for India's security have been leaked, triggering an investigation to det
ermine the extent to which one of the world's largest defense projects has been
compromised.
More than 22,000 pages list the combat capabilities and other information on the
Scorpene submarine and excerpts have been released by The Australian newspaper.
The Scorpenes, being built for 3.5 billion dollars at the state-run Mazagon ship
yard, are considered some of the most advanced of their class in the world. They
are so silent underwater that they are extremely difficult, if not impossible t
o detect. But now their sonar capabilities, the noise they generate and details
of the combat system they are armed with are totally exposed.
A screenshot of one of the pages of the leaked dossier on India s Scorpene-class s
ubmarine
"I understand there has been a case of hacking," said Defence Minister Manohar P
arrikar. "We will find out what has happened. Navy sources said they are confid
ent that the leak took place "outside India", that the documents appear to show
different configurations than what was finalized for India, and stressed that "t
he damage does not seem to be substantial" even as analysts suggested that's not
correct.
Ship maker DCNS said in a statement that French national security authorities ar
e investigating the size, seriousness and cause of the leak, which, it said, cou
ld be part of "an economic war" with competitors who it beat for a massive $38 b
illion contract in Australia.
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"There is India, Australia and other prospects, and other countries could raise
legitimate questions over DCNS. It's part of the tools in economic war," said a
spokesperson for DCNS quoted by news agency Reuters.
The documents that have been released do not contain any details of the vessel b
eing designed for the Australian fleet.
A daily accessed 22,400 leaked pages of classified data on India's Scorpene-clas
s submarine. (File)
Submarines are considered the ultimate stealth weapon. Knowing how much sound a
submarine makes underwater gives enemies the ability to know just where to look
to detect the submarine. The sort of information that has been placed publicly i
s the stuff of a navy's nightmare.
India has a fleet of 13 ageing submarines, only half of which are operational at
any time, opening up a major gap with China which is expanding its maritime pre
sence in the Indian Ocean.
The first of the Scorpene class submarines being built in India, the INS Kalvari
, took part in sea trials in May and is expected to go into service by the end o

f the year.