A team of experts from the navy has been burning the proverbial midnight oil in examining the leaked documents since the news broke on Tuesday night, an informed source said, adding the documents, including one dated 2011, are old.
The official, who did not want to be named, said the vessel's "signature" will be known only once it heads for the open seas. The official added that the data in the documents pertained to a simulator.
The documents from DCNS, the French company that designed the subs being built in India, were leaked, triggering fear it may compromise Scorpenes' stealth aspect.
"Details in the leaked documents regarding the Scorpene submarine are not valid because the signature can be known only once the boat goes to the seas," a navy source said, adding that the specifications mentioned in the document are hypothetical.
"How can we know the signature of the boat which is still not done with the trials? The technical and operational details will be written by how we exploit the submarine. So far, even the weapon systems and torpedo are not there."
"The signatures of the boats of the same class can also be different. It also depends on the temperature and salinity, geographical location and other factors," the source said, adding that even nuts and bolts can make the difference.
The navy, nonetheless, holds the leak as an issue of concern.
"The documents should not have been leaked, but there is nothing to be alarmed about," said the source.
In a statement earlier in the day, the navy made it clear that the documents were not leaked in India.
"Our experts have established that the documents were not leaked in India, but overseas," a naval official said without specifying if they have any information on the leak's source.
The said leaked information related to the Scorpene submarines has presentations and technical manuals of the boat, including details like the acoustic signature, noise level and radiated noise.
