The Navies of the world have long known how effective the sonar of dolphins and sea lions can be at locating small underwater objects.
The U.S. Navy has a marine mammal program that's been teaching underwater mammals how to locate marine mines, detonate, and even prevent explosions since the 1950s. But this is the first time we've heard of anything like the following story from the Ukraine.
Russia's state-owned news agency Ria Novosti says the Ukrainian navy is "bring[ing] back killer dolphins," by training them to attack swimmers, but that's not the unique part.
An unnamed source told Novosti that the Ukraine is now training 10 dolphins for underwater attacks against swimmers by using knives and guns.
From Ria Novosti:
The killer-dolphins will be trained to attack enemy combat swimmers using special knives or pistols fixed to their heads, the source said. "We are now planning training exercises for counter-combat swimmer tasks in order to defend ships in port and on raids," he said.
The Navy actively used underwater mammals in Vietnam and to support Bahrain missions in 1986 and points out the U.S. has given 32 Dicken Medals in the course of its history honoring animals in war.
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