Animal rights campaigners expressed outrage last night after the Ministry of Defence admitted blowing up 119 live pigs in explosives tests.
The MoD defended the experiments, saying they had 'saved many lives' in Afghanistan and Iraq. They have led to improvements in body armour and the medical treatment of soldiers injured by roadside bombs, it said.
But animal welfare activists criticised the 'unethical' practice of causing 'massive mutilation and injury' to the pigs.
The research took place at the Government's secret military research laboratory Porton Down, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, between 2006 and 2009. Official figures reveal 25 pigs were used in improvised explosive device experiments in 2006, 19 in 2007, 40 in 2008, and 35 in 2009. The animals are anaesthetised before the explosions.