With the Belgian Malinois turning into the popular canine companion of particular forces within the United States, Europe and Israel, India’s elite counter-terrorism unit, the National Security Guard (NSG), hopes to quickly deploy the ferocious four-legged preventing drive in its future operations in place of the cute Labrador.
During the continuing Israel-Palestine battle, the Belgian Malinois — a canine breed particularly skilled by the Israeli forces to not simply sniff out Hamas militants of their underground tunnels in Gaza, but in addition monitor and attack them — was amongst Israel’s most valued preventing models.
The NSG’s Labrador squad will progressively make manner for the very smart and ferocious Belgian Malinois. While earlier, Labradors had been used for sniffing and monitoring, and German Shepherds for attacking, the NSG is now coaching its Malinois dogs to hold out all three duties — sniff, monitor and attack.
Sources mentioned the Malinois squad will assist NSG’s Black Cat commandos with their anti-terror operations, together with hostage conditions.
“The operational squads will become leaner (due to the Belgian Malinois). Else, we would have to take two sets of dogs along with their trainers and other logistics. It impacts mobility and stealth,” NSG Director General M A Ganapathy mentioned.
Lieutenant Colonel R B Sharma, who’s in control of NSG’s K9 canine unit, mentioned coaching for the brand new inductees began in August 2023 and the squad is now sufficiently skilled.
“The squad has three breeds of dogs at present — Labradors, cocker spaniels and Belgian Malinois. We have 20 Labradors (aged 4-7 years) currently. We are not acquiring more Labradors since we plan to retire them gradually. As their replacement, we have acquired 14 Belgian Malinois and they are now our lead dog squad. Belgian Malinois is the preferred breed of the best forces in the world. The US forces that hunted down (al-Qaeda chief) Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan had Malinois dogs in tow,” Lt Col Sharma mentioned.
In 2019, a Belgian Malinois performed an essential function in a navy operation led by the US that resulted within the demise of fugitive Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in northwest Syria. The breed was additionally used with success by NATO troops.
Lt Col Sharma mentioned not like Labradors, who’ve nice olfactory senses however are docile, the Malinois’s sniffing capabilities are solely barely decrease. However, he mentioned, they’ve better alertness, moreover possessing the power to attack and paralyse terrorists, giving safety forces “golden moments” earlier than their intervention. The breed was developed in Belgium’s Malines space within the 1800s.
“Labradors get tired very easily and can get playful during operations. These are not issues we face with the Malinois. Labradors are constantly looking for affection and are eager to please their masters. They also want treats constantly. Malinois are more professional that way,” Lt Col Sharma provides.
NSG second-in-command Major Rishi, who’s the primary canine coach, mentioned the Malinois are much more agile than different breeds and will also be skilled higher.
“They can also be trained to follow laser beams. So a bag can be pointed out with a laser beam at a distance, and the dog can reach it and sniff it without the involvement of its handler, thus reducing the risk to the soldier,” he mentioned.
The NSG canine squad has additionally acquired the Canine Reward Delivery Systems (CRDS). The expertise has been designed particularly for canine squads, for distant operations and real-time suggestions. The expertise permits a canine to put on a camera-fitted visor and a hi fi is hooked up to its collar. The coach can keep removed from the operation website and ship within the canine alone, passing on directions by means of the hi fi. The camera-fitted visor relays stay visuals to the handler of the operation space coated by the canine.
Major Rishi mentioned, “The equipment has a range of 1 km and is one-of-a-kind in India. The Malinois have already been trained to sniff out explosives and attack terrorists based on directions given remotely via CRDS.”
