Royal Malaysian Navy's Scorpéne-class submarine KD Tunku Abdul Rahman. — Wikipedia pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 ― Malaysia’s Scorpene submarines have different specifications from those used by India, the Defence Ministry said in allaying concerns over a secret data leak reportedly hitting the French submarine supplier DCNS.

Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Johari Baharum said the report by The Australian ― which claimed that the leaked documents detailed the “entire” combat capability of six Scorpene-class submarines DCNS had designed for India, variants of which are used by Malaysia and Chile ― should be investigated and verified first.

“Whatever the result may be, the specifications, characteristics and the abilities of our submarines are unique and different from that owned by Chile or India.

“Therefore, I don't see any reason to worry because of the allegation of data leak that was reported because it does not affect our operations or the security of TLDM's submarines,” Mohd Johari told Malay Mail Online, referring to the Royal Malaysian Navy.

The Australian reported that the massive data leak of 22,400 pages on the secret stealth capabilities of the Indian navy’s new submarines marked “Restricted Scorpene India” also included information on the submarine’s underwater sensors, above-water sensors, combat management system, torpedo launch system, and communications and navigation systems.

The stealth capabilities of the new Indian submarines that were reportedly leaked included the frequencies they gather intelligence at, the levels of noise they make at various speeds, as well as their diving depths, range and endurance, which the Australian newspaper described as sensitive and highly classified information.

Malaysia commissioned two Scorpene submarines from DCNS in 2009 that were named after former prime ministers Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Abdul Razak.