Scorpene documents leak: What is it about?

What are Scorpene submarines?

The Scorpene-class submarines are a class of diesel-electric attack submarines. These submarines, which are designed by a French Company DCNS, are currently being built at a government-run shipyard in Mumbai.

Where did the leak originate?

According to the Australian newspaper, DCNS has implied that the leak may have come from India rather than from France.

The data, however, was thought to have been removed from France in 2011 by a former French navy officer who was, at the time, a subcontractor for DCNS.

The leaks are believed to have passed through companies in Southeast Asia before eventually being mailed to a company in Australia.

The paper said it has been told that the secret data was removed from DCNS by a former sub-contractor in 2011 and taken to a private company in Southeast Asia before being passed to a branch of that company in a second Southeast Asian nation.

DCNS is expected to announce that it will set up a new security committee in Australia to help safeguard against leaks of classified data for the project.

India and France have initiated investigations in the case.

The leak is cause for alarm not just for India, but also for Malaysia and for Chile, which use a variant of the Scorpene. Brazil is due to deploy the vessels from 2018.