In case you haven’t seen this yet, it’s the gear that Cairo, the military working dog that accompanied the SEALs on their mission to kill Osama bin Laden might have been wearing for the raid.
While reports the dog wore titanium covers over his (or her?) fangs might not be accurate, he was likely kitted out with some of this gear from Canadian company called K9 Storm Inc.
As you can see, this dog’s vest comes with a day and nighttime camera and a two way radio allowing the dog’s handler to see and hear what the dog does and give it commands from afar, even through concrete walls. Last year, the SEALs gave K9 Storm $86,000 to buy four vests for their dogs. Even the V-rings used to attach items to the bullet and stab-resistant vest are made from a composite that saves a ton of weight (well, 100 or so grams) and is silent compared to metal ones that can clink together, giving away a dog’s position.
Read this for more on the company.
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
Kevlar vests with full battle gear? sooner or later they are going to be fitting firearms on men's best friend.
Apparently, back in WWII, the Soviets used dogs that were trained to go crawl under tanks. These dogs were fitted with explosives and a pressure-activated lever as a trigger mechanism. However, they trained them on Soviet tanks, which used a different fuel than the the German tanks, so the dogs tended to crawl under Soviet tanks when they were released in combat.
I don't think it was fuel, from what I've read it was the sound of the engines was what caused the dogs to run for Soviet tanks. I'd imagine that both Soviet & German tanks both used diesel for fuel, as I recall it was mostly Shermans that had gas engines.
Whether 100% true or not, this is an awesome story. :)
Panzer I to Tiger II appear to be "petrol" engines, with the high end tanks using Maybach engines. I /think/ the Soviets went with all diesel. The wikipedia anti-tank dog article has some info, with a decent number of citations, some in Russian.
Kind of adds a new appreciation to the term "dogs of war", don't it?
Nice doggie. Good doggie. Easy girl…
What exactly was the purpose of having the dog on the raid? Was it for Cairo's sniffing abilities, fear factor, or something else? Cause I think DEVGRU dropping into your compound guns blazing at oh dark thirty is scary enough.
Probably all of the above, although I think maybe more A & C than B.
"Chopper, sick balls."
Detecting boobytraps?
The dog would have been used to subdue bin Laden without killing him.
But they botched the raid to capture him by crashing on the front lawn.
I think oblat means Idiot in Arabic.
A stab resistant attack dog. o god THE COMBAT KNIFE DOES NOTHING HELP
next will be remotely operated weapons on mans best friend. tasers? pepperballs? Guns?
"Freakin' laser beams attached to their freakin' heads."
Cairo's role was tracker…in case any tangos tried to flee the scene…either thru a tunnel network or on foot from the compound
although it was reported that osama was so comfortable that he didnt have an escape plan, he had slipped thru before so it was a contingency that had to be countered
Can I get one for my Ciwawa? ;-)
Yes, but don't ride your bike for a week….
Don't worry the dog will write a tell all book released next year that disses the rest of Seal Team 6 and claims they were useless after the drivers porn was found.
Cue PETA!
First the CIA station chief in Pakistan, now this? F.U. wikileaks
They should mount Stinger missiles on the vest.
That would be really ultrabad.
Oh, hey, a fluffy puppy.
ZZZZZZRRRRRRRRRRRRSK!
KAPOW!
LOL! Can you imagine if they mounted mini-hellfires on attack dogs AND allow the dogs to independently target and fire them?
I may be on the wrong page. I was looking for a defense team to help with defending my computer and all the programs I have.
That's f'ing funny!!!
Woof.
Latest News: Europe Has Been Taken
Obama: Who let the dogs out?
Forget about one dog for a second. Can you imagine platoon-size elements, er pack-size elements, of these mofo's? How fun would that be to let lose on the battlefield. Release the hounds! (said in my best Mr. Burns voice)
As long as they give the dogs titanium teeth caps then I would agree.
Bob, sounds like you've been playing too much Call of Duty… lol
Anyway, this is pretty awesome. Spec Ops doggies are being used a lot more often nowadays. Kind of disappointed they forgot OPSEC and released the name of our badass friend.
I'm not even in the military and I thought of that too. That may make it too easy for enemy to identify the servicemen who work with the dog, or have done so in the past. In addition, some enemy might make a big effort to target and kill the dog himself, on account of the dog's involvement in the raid.
My dog has a 3 barrell .22lr minigun mounted on each side of the vest.
Money well spent!!
Every Police K( needs to be equipped the same way…..they also need kevlar boots for the paws….
Even the drug dogs? Police department doesn't run on a blank check like the DoD.
Talking about taking a bite out of crime…..Scruff McGruff would be proud….
Anyone find the "Gross motor skills activated" thing amusing?
next we're going to fit fido with a minigun, a remote controlled 50 cal barret and a javelin launcher
August 2010. Good catch.