SHAH ALAM: The data for the Indian Scorpene submarines – an updated version of the RMN Perdana Menteri class – have been leaked. The Australian, a newspaper based in Melbourne – however choose to claim that the leak data may well compromise their own submarine design also built by the French ship builder, DCNS.
The stunning leak, which runs to 22,400 pages and has been seen by The Australian, details the entire secret combat capability of the six Scorpene-class submarines that French shipbuilder DCNS has designed for the Indian Navy.
A variant of the same French-designed Scorpene is also used by the navies of Malaysia, Chile and, from 2018, Brazil, so news of the Edward Snowden-sized leak — revealed today — will trigger alarm at the highest level in these countries. Marked “Restricted Scorpene India”, the DCNS documents detail the most sensitive combat capabilities of India’s new $US3 bn ($3.9bn) submarine fleet and would provide an intelligence bonanza if obtained by India’s strategic rivals, such as Pakistan or China.
The same article also linked to the data leaked though it claimed it had redacted some of the information. The Australian also claimed that the data was taken out from DCNS by a sub-contractor, a former French navy officer, who it claimed took it to South East Asia.
However, 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.
Meanwhile, Defense News is reporting that the French plans an inquiry into the leak.
“DCNS has been made aware of articles published in the Australian press related to the leakage of sensitive data about (the) Indian Scorpene,” the company told Defense News.
“This serious matter is thoroughly investigated by the … French national authorities for defense security,” DCNS said. “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 company said.”
Personally, I think the data leak should be a serious concern for RMN especially that it came out from DCNS albeit via a sub contractor. And the claim that the data leak was somehow connected to a regional navy is a serious one indeed.
Its still too early for RMN to make any comments. If they do, I will post it here. Edited to add RMN comments.
RMN chief Admiral Kamarulzaman Badaruddin today (Aug 25) downplayed the concerns stating that the Perdana Menteri class submarines had different specifications compared to the Indian Scorpenes or even the Chilean ones.
He is correct of course but ours are more similar to the Chilean ones as both submarines are not fitted with air-independent propulsion. The Indian Scorpenes are longer and heavier in displacement, due to the AIP. The Indian submarines is fitted with non-penetrating periscopes while ours are fitted with the older hull penetrating ones.
— Malaysian Defence.
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View Comments (22)
clearly,it is a very serious threat ever to our own scorpene fleet.
Imagine if several SEA navy had a copy of that sensitive details.
Wah... somebody forgot to apply DLP software somewhere? If it happened in India, just imagine the irony of it.. one of the biggest infotech industry provider having this kind of data breach in their own backyard.
But if it happened at DCNS.. well..
On the contrary, I don't think it compromises our boats in a major way. Sure, the info shouldn't have been leaked and is info that some would like to get but it doesn't mean that the Scorpenes have been made totally vulnerable.
French defense industry are getting more contracts from clients..they should anticipates all these kind of threats since many us/russian tradition buyer divert to french products ..
Sabotage, spying , very synonym in military industry.
Track those who leak them..i believe china willing to pay millions for the document..
They work lightning fast , look at how they obtain us f117, drone ,stealth heli wreckage
buzzer - ''They work lightning fast , look at how they obtain us f117, drone ,stealth heli wreckage''
If you have the budget and a wide network of people abroad who are willing to steal or buy or help get info for you then there's no surprises that China can do what it does. A lesson learnt from the Cold War is that just because you get hold of a particular system or technology; doesn't mean you'll be able to duplicate or exploit it to your benefit. The Soviets got various Western made gear [the Iranians for example provide a Phantom and a Phoenix to the Soviets and ERA was obtained via the Syrians from a knocked out IDF M-60] but some they could not exploit or take advantage of because they didn't have the technology. China is reported to have gotten parts of Tomahawks that were used on Afghanistan in 1998 [via the Pakistanis] and parts of the F-1117 that was shot down in Serbia : whether they actually benefited is the question.
Guess that more or less mean no more Scorpene for RMN... Then again, given that Scorpene is a commercially available platform, probably no life or death "super" capabilities/technologies that are not already known or within predictions is at stake... Compromised? Sure, but with just two units, probably not game changing in any significant scenarios...
Indonesia has been talking to dcns about the scorpene. With this very sensitive information out in the open, other navies like Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam or China could just use the data to easily detect and classify a target as a malaysian scorpene submarine. Hopefully during the refit some technological updates is included and render the data not as similar to the malaysian scorpenes.
This release of the data will have no bearing when the times comes for the RMN to get additional subs. The main means of detecting the Scorpenes when submerged will remain its acoustic signature and various countries already have the Scorpenes acoustic signature; taken during bilateral exercises, when the boats were on their way home and when they are on deployment. Stuff like diving depths, range and endurance; speed and conditions needed for using the periscope, radiated noise levels when the submarine surfaces, etc, are indeed useful to have and will aid in predicting how the boats will operate but by themselves will not make the Scorpenes vulnerable to detection. How easy it will be to detect the Scorpenes, based on the leaked data will also depend on acoustic conditions, intel, the quality of sonar used by the opposition, as well as other factors, including the fact that different users will operate their boats in different ways : the leaked data by themselves are not a ''game changer'' and have not made the Scorpenes vulnerable overnight....
Quite often, a lot a vital data is obtained not by espionage or leaked stuff but by the exchange of info, i.e. in a few years what's stopping India from providing certain data [data that by themselves will not make much of a difference] on the Scorpenes to a 3rd party in exchange for info of a different kind. Also, by using open source literature, including marketing info provided by the OEM; those in the game are able to fairly accurately predict various technical aspects of not only the Scorpene but also other designs. Another thing to bear in mind is that the IN's Scorpenes will have slightly different specs compared to ours; just like like how ours are slightly different from Chiles's and has stuff that Chile doesn't, i.e. a watertight cofferdam section and extra displays in the CMS.
I don't know what to say about the damage caused. But it is reasonable to believe that if you know the sound signatures of your target submarine, you can focus your sonar on a narrow band of sound frequencies rather than a wide range. You may even know the thermal layer that is optimal for concealing that submarine is, and focus your effort in that layer. The knowledge might even help you make the decision on the next sonar to buy.
You might obtain some of this information from the leak or you might already have it. Then there's some information that doesn't affect us because our subs or environments are different. For example the knowing the maximum depth may not be useful for a submarine operating in the South China Sea, considering how shallow it is.
Sub-system or soft system might be unique to RMN like sonar, system configuration. Physically we are the same engine, battery so n so.
It will be a big impact to us