On July 23, the world celebrated International Whale and Pork Day. On July 23, 1982, the International Whale Commission issued a ban on industrial fishing for marine marills.
However, that does not prevent them from being used for military purposes. According to Sputnik, there are training programs for such animals in both Russia and the US.
Soviet-era project
As early as the 1960s, the Soviet Union began research on the possibility of using bottleneck pork ( Tursiops truncatus) for military purposes. A science - research center was established in the Black Sea coast, and in 1975, the first "fighting swimmers" were put into the service team.
Through the research process, it has been verified that marine macles are not inferior to their colleagues on land, even their own trainers.
The animals are taught how to track down and destroy submerged sabotage Predators. In the water environment, bottleneck pork acts much faster and more mobile than a person, even the person with the best physical condition.
Furthermore, the schools can destroy or cause serious damage to warships - there are special mines with magnetic locks that have been invented for this purpose.
The data is attached to the back of the animal. Bottleneck pork only needs to swim up and lean against the sides of the boat to hold the "death gift" firmly to the steel shell. A hole below the water level does not guarantee the destruction of the ship but forces the warship to stop operating for a long time.
The US also has a training program for water-beasted animals for military purposes at the San Diego base. Teamed with bottleneck pork is the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus), capable of carrying out more complex combat missions than pork.
Now, the training program for marine phoenixes in the US and Russia is completely secretive. There is no official data on the use of pork, sea lion or beluga whale for military purposes.
However, last year, Western media repeatedly reported that Russia used trained schools of pigs to protect the Black Sea Squadron in Sevastopol. The information is stated on the Naval news site.
Reviving the top-secret program
According to Sputnik, when the Soviet Union collapsed and divided the Black Sea fleet, the pork management unit belonged to Ukraine, and this program was said to have been terminated.
In 2014, Crimea was annexed by Russia, the Black Sea Squadron returned and the work was accelerated. In March 2016, the Russian Defense Ministry ordered 5 Black Sea bottleneck schools of pork at a total cost of 1.7 million rubles (19,700 USD).
According to data from the state ordering portal, pigs for military agencies must meet the following requirements: the ratio of children compared to male is 2/3, the minimum age is 3 years, the maximum is 5 years, the total minimum body length is 2.3 meters, the maximum is 2.7 meters, the skin condition of the whole body does not have obvious damage.
Training schools for military purposes was a proposal proposed by Emmanuel Nobel, the nephew of the famous inventor, in the 19th century. However, it was not until later that the idea was recognized.
In 1915, veterinarian Vladimir Durov asked the General Staff of the Russian Imperial Navy to use the help of a cranes to disable underwater mines.
The Imperial Ministry of War was interested in this opinion and after three months, two dozen animals were trained in Balaklava Bay.
Currently, it is not ruled out that the Russian Navy is also conducting research and training activities on pork for military purposes. However, the topic of pork warrior is always a top secret, so it is difficult to predict.
