|
Navy considering deploying dolphins
Marine Mammals Trained To Find Mines, Protect Soldiers
28th November 2002
SAN DIEGO
Alongside the U.S. Navy's high-tech hardware, a quieter group of soldiers is training in San Diego's waters.
The Navy is training more than 60 dolphins for possible deployment in a war with Iraq. The dolphins are trained to detect underwater mines and enemy divers.
"They can work with their trainers and handlers from boats out in the ocean at night, potentially," said Randy Brill of the Navy Marine Mammal Program, which oversees the dolphins' training. "And they can do it after traveling all over the world."
The military has been working with dolphins since 1959; the project was
de-classified in the 1970s.
Officials don't know if the dolphins would be deployed in a possible conflict with Iraq, but they have been used in other wars.
Dolphins were used for a year during the Vietnam War to patrol the U.S. base at Cam Rahn Bay.
The Navy used dolphins during the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
Dolphins also patrolled San Diego Bay when the Republican National Convention was held here in 1996. The animals are deployed once a year as part of Navy or NATO exercises.
|
