Are ‘Kamikaze Dolphins’ Real? The Daily Wire Investigates

WASHINGTON — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine both laughed off The Daily Wire’s questions about “kamikaze dolphins” last week, joking that while Iran does not have such capabilities, the United States wouldn’t reveal if it did.

While the phrase “kamikaze dolphin” certainly sounds fictional, a Navy spokesman clarified to The Daily Wire that there is a long history of the military using sea life in warfare through the U.S. Navy’s Marine Mammal Program. Some drone programs are mimicking the appearance and aesthetics of dolphins and sharks in modern-day weaponry.

Iranian officials told the Wall Street Journal this month that Iran might use “mine-carrying dolphins” to attack U.S. warships, in addition to other measures like submarines or mines themselves. On Tuesday morning, during a press briefing at the Department of War, The Daily Wire pressed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine about this claim.

“I haven’t heard the kamikaze dolphins thing — it’s like sharks with laser beams, right?” joked Caine, referencing the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

“I can’t confirm or deny whether we have kamikaze dolphins,” Hegseth said with a smile, “but I can confirm they don’t.”

Meanwhile, Iran-affiliated accounts, which closely follow American news cycles, have responded to the kamikaze dolphins news cycle with AI-generated images of dolphins equipped with explosives.

Say hello to these cute dolphins who’ll be giving love bites to … You know whom 😌 pic.twitter.com/dbTLa3QVIa

— True Promise – الوعد الصادق ✪🇮🇷 (@IRTruePromise) May 7, 2026

Dolphins have long been used “to detect, locate, mark and recover objects in harbors, coastal areas, and at depth in the open sea,” according to the U.S. Navy’s Marine Mammal Program.

Scott Savitz, an expert on mines and a senior engineer at the think tank Rand Corporation, pointed out to CNBC that during the Vietnam War, the Navy even trained dolphins to locate swimmers trying to access U.S. military facilities, and during the Iraq War, dolphins helped find and clear naval mines from the port of Umm Qasr.

“The U.S. Navy’s Marine Mammal Program began in 1959 and has supported maritime security missions for decades using bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions,” a Navy spokesman told The Daily Wire. “The program supported missions including mine countermeasures, object recovery, and harbor security. Elements of the program’s history, including deployments during the Vietnam War, have been publicly documented.”

The Navy spokesman noted that the Navy’s marine mammals are “trained, cared for, and handled by professional personnel, with animal welfare and safety central to all operations.”

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – MAY 05: U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth takes questions during a press briefing at the Pentagon on May 05, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“As with many long-running military programs, fictional portrayals, speculation, and misinformation have contributed to public misconceptions regarding the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program and its mission,” he explained.

The Navy’s program is focused on defensive maritime missions, the spokesman stressed, noting that the Navy doesn’t discuss specific operational capabilities or procedures or speculate about hypothetical missions.

“The Navy is aware of public reporting regarding marine mammal programs in other countries,” the spokesman added. “As a matter of longstanding policy, we will not discuss foreign military capabilities or intelligence assessments.”

Meanwhile, groups like Cardona Marine Group are creating their very own “kamikaze dolphins” in the form of the “Sea-Predator 7,” a combat drone that is designed to sink or disable large vessels and engineered for both surface and underwater deployment. The Sea Predator 7 is currently in development and Cardona Marine Group has been in talks with the United States Navy about their product.

The drone is inspired by a shark and has shark skin hydrodynamics with riblet-textured armor and a “custom Flume Drive propulsion system” that make it virtually undetectable, according to its maker, while its hull is built with ballistic composites. A spokesman for the company claimed that a swarm of them can take out a group of enemy ships by sneaking up to a submarine or aircraft carrier undetected.

“The Sea-Predator 7 can operate alone or as part of a swarm, submerging until the right moment to surface, deploy its armaments, and then vanish again from detection,” explains John Cardona, President of Cardona Marine Group. “Beyond strike capabilities, it is built to perform mission-critical tasks including anti-mine warfare, reconnaissance, special operations support, force multiplication, logistics, stealth operations, and underwater surveillance.”

Cardona Marine Group would very much like to see their drones in the hands of the United States Navy.

There are unmanned underwater vehicles being developed by the United States Navy itself, such as the “Ghostswimmer unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV).” The Navy was testing the Ghostswimmer as far back as 2014 as part of the Rapid Innovation Cell project, Silent NEMO. At about five feet long and 100 pounds, the Ghostswimmer was designed to mimic the shape and style of a large fish like a shark.

“It swims just like a fish does by oscillating its tail fin back and forth,” Michael Rufo, director of Boston Engineering’s Advanced Systems Group, explained in 2014. “The unit is a combination of unmanned systems engineering and unique propulsion and control capabilities.”

While the Ghostswimmer isn’t known to be equipped with weapons, it can stealthily provide the military with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. And other versions of the product, like the Ghost Shark XL-AUV developed by Anduril Industries for the Royal Australian Navy, are in fact armed and dangerous.

Then there’s the “Manta Ray Drone,” an autonomous underwater vehicle developed by Northrop Grumman for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Manta Ray, shaped like the fish it is named for, glides silently under the water, borrowing a “trick from nature,” as Defense Feeds described last month, gliding rather than fighting the water, “conserving energy in a way that seems almost unfair.” It can even power down on the floor of the ocean in order to stay hidden. 

The Manta Ray is currently being tested in real-world naval environments. With its payload-capable design, it could carry a variety of mission-specific tools, including weapons.