Advances in drone technology not only are replacing the need for cockpit pilots, but also dolphins used by the U.S. Navy.

Based in San Diego, the Navy’s $28-million marine mammal program currently uses 80 bottle-nosed dolphins and 40 California sea lions for a variety of tasks. The dolphins’ tasks include patrolling harbors to keep ports safe from enemy intruders. The mammals’ work has taken them to such overseas locations as Iraq and Bahrain, where they have protected U.S. vessels during wartime by spotting mines and other underwater threats. In the United States, they guard Navy submarine bases.

But now the Navy is developing an underwater drone shaped like a torpedo that can do many of the same tasks performed by dolphins. Once available, the drones can be built in much less time that it takes to train mammals, about seven years.

By 2017, many of the Navy’s 80 dolphins will be reassigned to other jobs. 

Sea lion jobs are safe for now.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Navy Dolphins Losing out to Robots (by Jeanette Steele, San Diego Union-Tribune)

80 Dolphins Work Classified Missions for U.S. Navy (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Navy to Employ Dolphins and Sea Lions to Protect Submarine Base (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)