The US will spend $ 130 million on underwater drones: they will replace combat dolphins
This will take more than 18 years
The Pentagon has reduced the amount of funds allocated for the maintenance of mine-clearing dolphins from $6.5 million to $1 million when agreeing the defense budget for 2023 . The people who made this decision complained about the dolphins being too big and having to constantly feed them fish.
Photo by formstock < p>RAND, a strategic research center, said instead of spending $7 million each year on combat marine animals, the US Navy is willing to spend $130 million over three years. The money will be allocated to build ten autonomous submersibles that could replace dolphins.
Reducing the content of aquatic mammals will pay off only after 18.5 years, and that if regular maintenance and replacement of expensive submersibles are not carried out.
The organization spoke of another shortcoming of the Pentagon's decision: “Just one mine can seriously damage or even sink a warship that could be worth billions of dollars. Someday the machine will be taught to recognize and clear mines as accurately as dolphins can. But, unfortunately, that day has not come yet.”
The US Navy has several dozen trained dolphins at its disposal, which can clear underwater mines, rescue drowning people, detect and even eliminate enemy saboteurs with the help of an attached on them a special bayonet-knife. In addition, the military taught dolphins to mine enemy ships by attaching explosives to them.
The reason dolphins are trained in warfare is that this type of marine mammal has a very high intelligence. Unlike the same underwater vehicles, living beings are difficult to detect on the radar. However, the US military is no longer interested in feeding and caring for their own trained dolphins.