According to information released under Freedom of Information laws, the British Army has been blowing up live pigs in body armour in a bid to improve medical techniques used on the battlefield.

The tests were carried out at the Ministry of Defence's secret Porton Down base in Wiltshire  to test whether pigs with “severe battlefield trauma” could be saved.

Pigs are genetically quite close to humans.

115 pigs, which the MOD says were anaesthetised before and “humanely culled” afterwads were killed in three years .

An MoD spokesman said: “The research we undertake saves lives by helping us develop world class protective equipment and new medical treatments that benefit both troops and civilians.

“Advances in technology mean we're reducing the number of procedures carried out on pigs but there is some research, such as countering the threat posed by chemical and biological weapons, that can't be conducted without use of animals.”