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| A DCNS Scorpene class submarine |
by Matt Walsh
CANBERRA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has on Wednesday downplayed concerns that its future submarine program could be at risk, after the French shipbuilder contracted to built its 12 next-generation subs suffered a massive internal leak.
The leak was reported by Australian media on Wednesday and includes more than 22,000 pages of information, including details on the six Scorpene-class submarines the French company, DCNS, designed for India.
The leak of the Scorpene-class subs also affects Malaysia, Chile and Brazil - nations which ordered those submarines from DCNS, however Australia has ordered 12 Barracuda-class subs from the shipbuilder.
DCNS won the 40 billion U.S dollar contract to build the submarines earlier this year, beating out bids from the Japanese government and from a German firm, and while Australian officials have said the leaks were concerning, they were not relevant to Australia's model.
"It is a completely different model, it is a different submarine," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told the Seven Network on Wednesday.
Meanwhile Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said the damning, 22,400-page report has "no bearing" on the government's Future Submarine Program.
"(The) program operates under stringent security requirements that govern the manner in which all information and technical data is managed now and into the future," the statement, released on Wednesday, said.
"The same requirements apply to the protection of all sensitive information and technical data for the Collins class submarines, and have operated successfully for decades."
Despite the government's bullish outlook regarding the leak, the Australian newspaper reported the U.S government could be concerned by the details of the leak; it is set to install state-of-the-art stealth and combat systems into the Australian submarines.
Read the full story at Xinhua