Scorpene data leak a setback for India's submarine building program: Uday Bhaskar

New Delhi, Aug. 24 (ANI): Defence expert Commodore (Retd.) C. Uday Bhaskar on Wednesday said the reported leak of classified information related to the Indian Navy's Scorpene submarine project is a setback for the country's submarine building program, adding the government must probe the issue thoroughly. Commodore (Retd.) Bhaskar told ANI some of the reports have been put out from Australia are referring to this as intelligence bonanza for India's potential adversities at seas or those who might be tracking India's submarine. "So, I think on balance this is a setback for India's submarine building program, particularly the Scorpene. I think the government of India would have to carry out a very detailed review and see how best to first of all come to an assessment about what degree of compromise has taken place and in the event it is true what do we do next," he added. Expressing grave concern over the incident, Commodore (Retd.) Bhaskar said it is a significant compromise of the credibility of the underwater platform. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar asked Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba to analyse the extent of the leak and find out whether it is related to India or not. Talking to the media earlier in the day, Parrikar asserted that the leak is not 100 percent. "I have asked the Naval Chief to conduct full analysis of the incident as to what is the leak and what has been leaked about us. The first step is to identify, the second step is to identify the extent of unwarranted, but it is not all 100 percent, because we do have our final integration," Parrikar said. Parrikar further said that they would come out with more information in the next couple of days. On Tuesday, a report in Australian media revealed that sensitive information related to India's Scorpene submarines has been leaked, with French shipbuilder DCNS, which designed the submarine, facing a leak of documents spreading over 22,000 pages. According to The Australian, the leak details the entire secret combat capability of the six Scorpene-class submarines that French shipbuilder DCNS has designed for the Indian Navy. Meanwhile, the Indian Navy has said the source of the leak appears to be from overseas and not in India. "The available information is being examined at Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy) and an analysis is being carried out by the concerned specialists," the Indian Navy said in a statement. "It appears that the source of leak is from overseas and not in India," the statement added. (ANI)