A weapon is absolutely doable. The US military have dolphins trained both in mine detection and removal, and in mine placement - they attach a magnetic submersible charge to the harness, and the animal then rubs along the vessel, attaching the charge. The same technique is used for attaching tracking beacons, listening devices, and anything else you might want to affix to a target vessel.
The behaviour that has been described for this whale ("tries to rub the straps off") is absolutely in line with this training.
So, no, the whale wasn't kitted out to have a Vulcan cannon mounted on it, but explosives, potentially.
Given the region, I first thought of the Swedish submarine scare and cold war panic in the 80s. Sweden, a non NATO member which didnt want to join NATO, had repeated incursions by submarines into their waters which were attributed to the soviets. It seems that wasnt the case for most subs. Instead the likely culprits were often NATO vessels.
I'm guessing they are talking about the whale being a weapon, and Russia has admitted to training beluga's.
>a 2017 report by TV Zvezda, a station owned by the defence ministry, revealed that the Russian navy has again been training beluga whales, seals and bottlenose dolphins for military purposes in polar waters. In the past three years, president Vladimir Putin has reopened three former Soviet military bases along its vast Arctic coastline.
>The recent research and training was done by Murmansk Sea Biology Research Institute in northern Russia on behalf of the navy to see if beluga whales could be used to “guard entrances to naval bases’” in arctic regions, “assist deepwater divers and if necessary kill any strangers who enter their territory”.
Well, Russia recently invaded a European country, assassinated several people in the U.K., got caught using spies to infiltrate U.S. political parties, hacked the emails of a U.S. presidential candidate while meeting secretly with her opponent (who may or may not be massively in the Russian government’s debt), and resumed air attack drills on NATO countries. So, a lot of English-speaking people see Russia as the “bad guy” right now.
I used to scuba dive a lot in the kelp beds off of Point Loma, San Diego in the early 90's. One day while floating on the top of the water with my buddy after a dive, a military boat drives by really fast. All the sudden, I'm lifted and spun around by a huge push of water. Scared me silly, I will never forget it. After a moment, I realized it was a couple of trained dolphins following the boat and messing with me. My buddy couldn't stop laughing at me.
This is the sort of totally obvious prisoner’s dilemma that just a tiny bit of international cooperation could easily avoid, if only Russia (and now the US) had not gone down the road of pseudo-macho brutalism in politics.
With the beluga cat now out of the bag, any maritime conflict will be liable to justify the wholesale slaughter of large marine mammals, just as 60 years of preservation efforts have been showing some good results, and incidentally proving that international cooperation actually can work.
On the plus side, nothing was gained. Whales as a weapons, or reconnaissance, platform may have worked as a tactical surprise. But it is useless once it’s known. Killing all the whales in the Atlantic is a day’s worth of fun for bored sailors.
Instead, everyone could have just played солитер all day in the safe knowledge that they are doing the best work of their life.
While there are some efforts to keep mammals away from wars specially when it comes to sea creatures. But sadly no one cares about dogs and horses that are being used and trained.
The comments here are getting border line conspiracy theory crazy, its honestly sad to see that people think the invasion of another country was justified (Ukraine) and 'mass media' lied about it all.
Then it got trapped in it pretty damn neatly, with one part behind the fun and one on its "neck". It's like my dog getting randomly tangled in its chest harness with the legs in the right position.
Oh noes... not more Russiagate conspiracy theories. Chris Hedges and Aaron Mate were just on with an American RT host Rick Sanchez talking about the reasons for this sort of theme. I also think it feeds into rising nationalism that (inevitably?) lead to things like civil war and world wars.
Don't forget that Russia Today is part of a deliberate effort to feed that rising nationalism in Western countries. Undermining international collaboration is the foundation of Putin's long-term geopolitical game.
lm28469|6 years ago
You might be able to strap a gps or a camera on it, but a weapon ?! What's up with all the articles "russia/china bad" popping up recently ?
> In 1980s Soviet Russia, a programme saw dolphins recruited for military training
Yeah, just like any nation with enough defence budget. Dolphins/sea lions [1], dogs, rats [2], &c. are used all the time.
[0] https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-whale-wearing-strang...
[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/5-animals-that-serve-in-the-...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APOPO
madaxe_again|6 years ago
The behaviour that has been described for this whale ("tries to rub the straps off") is absolutely in line with this training.
So, no, the whale wasn't kitted out to have a Vulcan cannon mounted on it, but explosives, potentially.
cf141q5325|6 years ago
Ola Tunander worte a Book about the incidents, called "The Secret War Against Sweden: US and British Submarine Deception in the 1980s". http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/library/tunander.pdf
goodcanadian|6 years ago
kalkaran|6 years ago
>a 2017 report by TV Zvezda, a station owned by the defence ministry, revealed that the Russian navy has again been training beluga whales, seals and bottlenose dolphins for military purposes in polar waters. In the past three years, president Vladimir Putin has reopened three former Soviet military bases along its vast Arctic coastline.
>The recent research and training was done by Murmansk Sea Biology Research Institute in northern Russia on behalf of the navy to see if beluga whales could be used to “guard entrances to naval bases’” in arctic regions, “assist deepwater divers and if necessary kill any strangers who enter their territory”.
_iyig|6 years ago
brudgers|6 years ago
latchkey|6 years ago
shaki-dora|6 years ago
With the beluga cat now out of the bag, any maritime conflict will be liable to justify the wholesale slaughter of large marine mammals, just as 60 years of preservation efforts have been showing some good results, and incidentally proving that international cooperation actually can work.
On the plus side, nothing was gained. Whales as a weapons, or reconnaissance, platform may have worked as a tactical surprise. But it is useless once it’s known. Killing all the whales in the Atlantic is a day’s worth of fun for bored sailors.
Instead, everyone could have just played солитер all day in the safe knowledge that they are doing the best work of their life.
stunt|6 years ago
While there are some efforts to keep mammals away from wars specially when it comes to sea creatures. But sadly no one cares about dogs and horses that are being used and trained.
nwmcsween|6 years ago
Clepsydra|6 years ago
Chris_Chambers|6 years ago
mothsonasloth|6 years ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-unYZ6ltfI
sealthedeal|6 years ago
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Flourescent|6 years ago
[deleted]
grandinj|6 years ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_(medicine)
StavrosK|6 years ago
aaron695|6 years ago
[deleted]
bayareanative|6 years ago
https://youtu.be/b1wlheHxuLY
pavlov|6 years ago