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- Thread starter Kadir93
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In 1991, after the Gulf War, US forces discovered a Chinese-made HY-2 Silkworm missile in an ammunition bunker near the Kuwait-Iraq border. Little was known about it - and Royal Australian Navy clearance divers wanted one intact for intelligence purposes.
So Ian ‘Nosey’ Parker and Leading Seaman Clearance Diver Scott McCallum borrowed an old semi-trailer, used a crane to load the missile, then lashed it down, covered it with a blue tarp, and made their way back through a very recent war zone - with wreckage, craters, and the risk of triggering mines and cluster ammunition all around. When the Americans warned them off, Parker’s response was simple: “Mate, we’ll be right.”
Back in Kuwait City, they had about a week to pull the missile apart, work out how it worked, and render it safe to take home. Parker later showed French and British forces how to make their Silkworms safe too - earning the divers the unofficial nickname “the rocket scientists”. The captured missile was shipped to Australia on HMAS Westralia - and today it’s part of the Australian War Memorial’s National Collection.
Parker had about a week to render the Silkworm missile safe.
Dummy Silkworm, Kuwait, 1991.
The storage bunker inside Iraq
So Ian ‘Nosey’ Parker and Leading Seaman Clearance Diver Scott McCallum borrowed an old semi-trailer, used a crane to load the missile, then lashed it down, covered it with a blue tarp, and made their way back through a very recent war zone - with wreckage, craters, and the risk of triggering mines and cluster ammunition all around. When the Americans warned them off, Parker’s response was simple: “Mate, we’ll be right.”
Back in Kuwait City, they had about a week to pull the missile apart, work out how it worked, and render it safe to take home. Parker later showed French and British forces how to make their Silkworms safe too - earning the divers the unofficial nickname “the rocket scientists”. The captured missile was shipped to Australia on HMAS Westralia - and today it’s part of the Australian War Memorial’s National Collection.
Parker had about a week to render the Silkworm missile safe.
Dummy Silkworm, Kuwait, 1991.
The storage bunker inside Iraq
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