India Seeks Submarine Upgrade To Plug Scorpene Data Leak

India will push for several upgrades in the proposed three new Scorpene submarines it is discussing with France to address concerns of any compromise in the submarine’s capability following the leak of its technical specifications in Australia last year.

“We will look at the cost of the upgrades based on which we will take a call whether to go for the additional ones or carry on with the acquisition of the next line of submarines as planned,” a senior defence official was quoted as saying by the Hindu Tuesday.

Mazgaon Docks Ltd. (MDL), Mumbai, is manufacturing six Scorpene conventional submarines with technology transfer from DCNS under a $3.75-billion deal signed in October 2005. 

The detailed discussions pertaining to the additional buy would be held during the India-France strateigic dialogue around December. As per plan, all submarines are expected to be launched from MDL by 2020 and both sides are on to firm up a deal before that to keep the production line running and preserve the expertise, another official said.