DIY Cruise Missile Designer Turns Freelance

js7a writes "Bruce Simpson of New Zealand, the designer of a homebrew cruise missile as reported here, has been left destitute by hastily-imposed restrictions of his national authorities, and is now offering his services to any non-terrorist willing to provide room, board, travel, expenses, and a negotiated rate. There is no question that cruise missile, UAV, bio-warfare, chemical weapons technology, and probably nuclear technologies will all continue to fall in cost significantly for the foreseeable future."

Comments

Buh Bye

[mfh]

In other news, a New Zealand man, possibly Bruce Simpson, was found dead by neighbours this afternoon. Officials present stated that Mr. Simpson died from an apparent tooth brushing incident, rendering his neck severed due to an accidental slip/fall, caused when a shampoo bottle fell over and mixed with some dripped shower water on the floor. Sadly, Mr. Simpson's efforts to provide cruise missiles to Iran and North Korea are all but a distant memory. New Zealand investigating officials have ruled out any foul play, and have ruled it an accidental death. Iranian and North Korean officials had no comment.

Re:Buh Bye

[jabberjaw]

There is more truth to that than you know.

Re:Buh Bye

[Scrameustache]

In other news, a New Zealand man, possibly Bruce Simpson, was found dead by neighbours this afternoon.

There was this canadian in the 80's who had this obsession with building a giant cannon to cheaply launch satellites in orbit. It would obviously not do for humans because the initial acceleration would kill them, but for hardware, all you have to do is make sure everything is screwed tight. The economy on launch would be much greater than the extra cost in solidity. The added bonus is that you wouldn't have to launch from the tropics, it could work from as high up as canada, eh.

Well, he had the design, and some funding from the canadian military, he was building it. Then, the united states objected, and told its submissive neighbour to the north to stop it with the revolutionary launch technology: if canada wants to put stuff in orbit, all it has to do is ask and the states will let them hitch a ride from florida.

So the canadian military cut the guy's funding. He then fought like a madman trying to gain back the funds he needed to make his dream come true, but try as he may, nothing was enough. Until a certain wealthy dictator from the middle east agreed to fund his research. So our canadian swallowed his pride (and his ethic, he wanted to launch satellites, not make weapons) and headed off to Iraq to build his giant cannon. And build it he did.
he made a couple prototype, one of which was conspicuously pointed in the general direction of Israel. It wasn't working properly yet, when you make this go BOOM with this much force, it tends to take a bit of trial and error before nothing breaks when you do, but it was progressing.

Long story short, the guy was found dead in front of his hotel room, the keys in the lock, the very clean gun next to the body, with a single bullet in the back of the head.

The moral of the story: When the united state's military says you are not to build a giant cannon, you do not build a giant canon, be it by lack of funds or surplus of lead.

The end.

Re:Buh Bye

[Roland Piquepaille]

In other news, a New Zealand man, possibly Bruce Simpson, was found dead by neighbours this afternoon. Officials present stated that Mr. Simpson died from an

Anybody else has this mental image of a Lego-yellow-skinned balding guy with a tub dropping a glowing block of uranium when the power plant factory bell rings?

I wonder if he has family in Enzy...

Re:Buh Bye

[timeOday]

The moral of the story: When the united state's military says you are not to build a giant cannon, you do not build a giant canon, be it by lack of funds or surplus of lead.

(Emphacis mine) Are you sure that wasn't Mossad?

Re:Buh Bye

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

Mossad, and Mr. Gerald Bull. Plenty of googlefodder if you're interested.

Re:Buh Bye

[Rei]

Good idea mentioning Bull, but a really, really bad description of his life.

Gerald Bull was a revolutionary ballistics designer; he was insturmental in pioneering such fields as sabot-launched projectiles (including the use of such projectiles for to replace hypersonic wind tunnel testing of objects). He also developed the concept of "base bleed" - in general,using a small rocket motor on the back of a projectile, not to provide thrust, but to fill the vaccum created as the projectile moves.

His first job after graduation was with CARDE, a Canadian research institution funded mostly by government projects. He worked on a few projects there, and due to his somewhat tactless nature (such as publicly questioning the intelligence of his funders at times), created his first enemies (in what was to become a long string of them).

While working at McGill University after CARDE, he got Pentagon and Canadian funding for the infamous HARP (High Altitude Research Project) (read Astronautix.com's summary of it - it's a very interesting read). HARP developed guns both in Barbados and Canada, with the Canadian guns used for testing, and the Barbados guns used for launches to take advantage of the Earth's rotation. The net goal of HARP was to get a projectile into orbit. Their main gun was a huge smoothbore made from two welded 16' naval guns, burning ungodly amounts of cordite; its fireball when it went off was huge ;) The cost of the project was tiny compared to most rocket programs, and they almost succeeded. Fascinating program, really.

A lot of stuff happened. Partly because of political differences over the Vietnam war, and partly because Bull had made several influential people in the Canadian government mad, funding got pulled. Their last dash to get a projectile into orbit failed, and the gun has been sitting idle ever since.

Bull took all of the tech that he could and founded his own company. While he wanted to keep pursuing what HARP was working on, he basically had little choice but to make artillery pieces if he wanted to stay afloat. Using base bleed, he created some of the world's longest range and most accurate artillery pieces of the time. The US allowed (some say encouraged) him to sell weapons to South Africa, which were funnelled into Angola. However, an (overzealous?) customs agent brought charges against him; he served a short term in prison, and was released, bitter.

He moved to Brussels and agreed to sell weapons to the highest bidder, anyone except the USSR. He sold several systems to countries such as China, before finding a sponsor in Saddam Hussein. However, to be allowed to implement the ballistic-launch concept, he agreed to work on several other projects, most notably the al-Hussein missiles (enhanced SCUDs).

The gun he worked on - often called the Babylon Supergun - wasn't much of a threat to anyone. It used the concept of slow combustion - basically, having your explosives move along the barrel with the projectile, limiting the force on the barrel at any given point. A smaller version was completed, and the larger version was under construction.

What got him into trouble, however, was the al-Hussein project. While some try and cast it into doubt, there is generally little doubt that his assasination was carried out by the Mossad. His family reported that several times, he had his apartment broken into, and furniture randomly rearranged as a warning. In the end, he was found dead outside his room, five bullets in the back of his neck.

Bull wasn't a well organized person, and both of his projects fell apart without him there. Sanctions against Iraq further led to the confiscation of parts to build the gun (which he had tried to disguise as pipe components). The supergun was finally destroyed after the Gulf War.

The real moral of the story is, if you're a ballistics expert, A) don't tick off your funders, B) don't tick off Israel, and C) learn to take a hint.

Re:Buh Bye

[identity0]

Nah, it'd go something like this, depending on what country did it:

Israel: "A local man was found dead this afternoon of an apparent shooting accident. Police speculate that Bruce Simpson was playing with his .22 pistol when he accidentally placed it at the back of his skull and shot himself."

CIA: "The U.S. Airforce has promised an inquiry into the recent incident where local resident Bruce Simpson was accidentally bombed in his house and killed. Officials believe the air force may have been ordered to "send Simpson one of thier new cruise missles for review" when a technician misinterpreted the orders and fired at the coordinates instead."

MI6: "A recent high-speed chase involving local police and a Aston-Martin fitted with rockets, machine guns and oil slicks ended in tragedy when Mr. Bruce Simpson of New Zealand was lasered in half by the driver, a man police say was dressed very well and ordered a martini shaken, not stirreed at a local club before going on the rampage."

New Zealand: "The New Zealand intelligence service has admitted to bludgeoning Mr. Bruce Simpson to death with sticks. New Zealanders have expressed shock that their country actually posseses an intelligence service."

Re:Buh Bye

[gotr00t]

Are we forgetting that this time its New Zealand?

Re:Buh Bye

[Saeger]

And in related news, a statistically "interesting" number of top scientists are ending up dead or missing in recent years.

--

Re:Buh Bye

[Scrameustache]

Good idea mentioning Bull, but a really, really bad description of his life.

It was from memory, obviously vague since I couldn't remember his name.
I counted on someone to helpfully reply with the details and corrections : )

His family reported that several times, he had his apartment broken into, and furniture randomly rearranged as a warning.

Details like that.
Waitaminute, they redecorated his appartment as a warning? Man, these guys are subtle...

Re:Buh Bye

[Zeinfeld]

What got him into trouble, however, was the al-Hussein project. While some try and cast it into doubt, there is generally little doubt that his assasination was carried out by the Mossad.

Oh there were lots of people who had it in for Bull, the issue was pretty much overconstrained. The Iranians may have had a hand in it. MI6 were royaly pissed at Saddam for many reasons, including the murder of one of their agents.

Another theory is that the Iraqis might have decided they were better off without Bull. What would you do if you were working on the supergun project and you started to suspect Bull was a charlatan? Do you tell Saddam he's been had? I don't think so, but if you continue and the scheme fails there is probably going to be a lot of people heading for the firing squad.

Re:Buh Bye

[flmngbrd]

The real moral of the story is, if you're a ballistics expert, A) don't tick off your funders, B) don't tick off Israel, and C) learn to take a hint.

that's good advice for pretty much everyone

Re:Buh Bye

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that Bull was working for Saddam before the first gulf war... If you recall, the Regan administration's appraisal of Saddam was somewhat different than the current one.

Re:Buh Bye

[Rei]

Israel to kill in U.S., allied nations Source: UPI / interviews with former Israeli intelligence agents and CIA agents.
Cite: " Gerald Bull, an Ontario-born U.S. citizen and designer of the Iraqi supergun -- a massive artillery system capable of launching satellites into orbit, and of delivering nuclear chemical or biological payloads from Baghdad to Israel -- was killed in Belgium in March 1990. The killing is still unsolved, but former CIA officials said a Mossad hit team is the most likely suspect."

New evidence of Mossad involvement in Belgium murder case Source: Haaretz Daily (an Israeli newspaper) / the Belgian government
Cite: "The Belgian State Prosecutor is considering reopening a probe into the murder of Canadian scientist Dr. Gerald Bull in Brussels 12 years ago, amid new suspicions that the Mossad was responsible. Belgian police say they have new information that the Mossad was directly involved in killing Bull."

Re:Buh Bye

[Deadstick]

Frederick Forsyth wrote an interesting novel called The Fist of God that began with the Bull bushwhack, and went on with a rather cogent-sounding argument for it being someone other than the Mossad. Good read.

rj

Re:Buh Bye

[FrYGuY101]

In related news, it has been discovered that the assassins of Gerald Bull was not, in fact, Mossad, but rather the Fab Five.

Re:Buh Bye

[acebone]

Bruce Simpson of New Zealand, the designer of a homebrew cruise missile as reported here, has been left destitute by hastily-imposed restrictions of his national authorities, and is now offering his services to any non-terrorist willing to provide room, board, travel, expenses, and a negotiated rate

Hooray - what a fawking hero. He builds weapons because he's just such a geeky nerd, and you know, it is really interesting from a tech POV !

I hope he misfires one of his contraptions, and ends up swallowing it - what a @$##@% scumbag...

Re:Buh Bye

[chimpo13]

Starting with your first paragraph: do you seriously not care that he was building a cannon for saddam hussein, a man who has used chemical weapons against his own citizens, launched wars at the drop of a hat and sworn to eliminate several of his neighbors?

The CIA has said that Saddam didn't gas the Kurds. It was done with blood agent chemicals (cyanide-based gas) that he didn't have. It was probably the Iranians.

Swearing to eliminate your neighbors happens all the friggin' time. How often do people whine about Canucks and the French? Even on something as technical and intelligent as slashdot, people are always saying crap like that. That's certainly helping our reputation world-wide.

Hell, the US is trying to overthrow the Venezuala government, and they're pretty much our neighbor. Cuba is 90 miles away from Florida and we aren't inviting them over for milk and cookies. And the US Army gave citizens, servicemen, and prisoners crap like malaria & syphilis, and sprayed them with mustard gas and biological weapons (thinking of San Francisco here) without telling them. So basically, your first sentence might as well be applied to the Good Ol' USA. The chemical agents American soldiers were exposed to in the first Gulf War were made in the USA.

The real moral is, don't do weapons research. Although I think that'll be mighty hard to apply world-wide. Maybe if we all agree to just disagree the world will be a better place. And weasels will shoot out of my ass.

Re:Buh Bye

[lovecult]

New Zealand: "The New Zealand intelligence service has admitted to bludgeoning Mr. Bruce Simpson to death with sticks. New Zealanders have expressed shock that their country actually posseses an intelligence service."

Joking aside, there is some good publically available information on NZ's intelligence services.
One NZ'ers investigation of the GCSB, ,published in the book Secret Power, revealed to the world the existence of the Echelon network.

Re:Buh Bye

[Anonymous Coward]

New Zealand: "The New Zealand intelligence service has admitted to bludgeoning Mr. Bruce Simpson to death with sticks. New Zealanders have expressed shock that their country actually posseses an intelligence service."


New Zealand does in fact have an intelligence service, three infact, the CIB (Criminal Intelligence Bureau), the SIS (Security Intelligence Service), and the GCSB (Government Communications Security Bureau).

The GCSB (http://www.gcsb.govt.nz/) are the guys who do the satellite communications monitoring for the US government in New Zealand out at the Waihopi satellite monitoring station and up in the North Island somewhere (can't remember where). They also (under the umbrella of MFAT (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)) govern the export of encryption stuff. These guys are very secretive and probably do a lot more and have a lot more power than we (the NZ public) are allowed to know. The GCSB was kept totally secret from it's inception in 1977 until 1984 when it was publically acknowledged as existing. [aside: I applied to work for GCSB at one time in my life, they wouldn't tell me what I would be working on except that I'd need very high security clearance which would take very close investigation by the SIS, and it involved programming work for signal analysis - they wanted to know if I objected to reading personal emails & letters/listening to personal communications etc. I can take a good guess that it would be working on improved analysis systems for Echelon's work in NZ. I wasn't successful (but was short listed).]

The SIS (http://www.nzsis.govt.nz/) are the people who do security clearance checks for other government depts (including GCSB, Police and Military), spy operations and counter intelligence work. These guys are a civilian organisation and not quite so secret as the GCSB, they probably also have less power than the GCSB.

The CIB is part of the NZ Police and as such is more like the FBI. They are not very secretive at all.

Re:Buh Bye

[pipingguy]

smoothbore made from two welded 16' naval guns

I think you mean 16", as in the diameter.
Great post.

Re:Buh Bye

[Anonymous Coward]

Huh-- I always thought Ronald Raegan was shot with a .38-- but you seem to be right.

The most famous of the Mossad assinations did indeed use .22s, but the victims were *filled* with bullets. I'm talking about the retaliation for the 1972 Olympics killings.

Unfortunately, on their last mission, they killed the wrong guy-- and his pregnant girlfriend. Oops. Fortunately, they caught Mossad assassins. Unfortunately, I think they were all sent back to Israel.

The book I read about it said .22s were chosen because they don't make as much noise, additionally, they halved (?) the charge to further minimize the noise. Of course, that required that you shoot your target multiple times to make sure they were good and dead.

Re:Buh Bye

[Anonymous Coward]

"And weasels will shoot out of my ass."

Please video tape that for science, because the state of the art now is eels.

Re:Buh Bye

[Rei]

I would *love* to see a movie made about Gerald Bull. At the very least, it would help stir up interest again in gun-launched projectiles. And he has a really fascinating life story.

Re:Buh Bye

[drinkypoo]

If you just "toss" someone's apartment, aka trash it like you're looking something (whether you are or not) then it looks like a burglary. If you break in and just rearrange all the furniture you're going to contribute to a general sense of paranoia and it's clear you weren't there to steal something.

Re:Buh Bye

[w42w42]

Read a book on the Mossad once. At least the parts they allowed to be written about. I'd have to agree with the context of your question, they are not people to mess with.

Re:Buh Bye

[DrMrLordX]

Guys? I think not. Fear Martha Stewart.

Re:Buh Bye

[Moofie]

I was willing to accept that you might have a vague idea what you're talking about until your last sentence.

If you can figure out how to make the bad guys stop doing weapons research, let me know. If you think there are not bad guys, I suggest you consult a mental health professional as you're obviously off your nut.

Re:Buh Bye

[name773]

funny, yes, but ph33r would have been funnier.
still funny though :)

Re:Buh Bye

[albertoiii]

thats not really the point. no matter what reagan thought, bull was building weapons for saddam hussein. are you saying that just because reagan thought it was ok, bull's work is justified??

Re:Buh Bye

[Lord Kano]

I bet an Israeli Mossad agent killed him!

No shit.

He was helping Saddam build a big ass gun that could place NBC warheads in downtown Tel Aviv. The Israelis were the only ones who had a reason to kill him. Aside from the USA, no other country on the planet would have cared all that much about it.

LK

Re:Buh Bye

[Lord Kano]

Mossad's motto is "By way of deception, thou shalt do war", how can anyone ever take anything said by Mossad seriously?

LK

Re:Buh Bye

[dj245]

And weasels will shoot out of my ass.

A rare event, perhaps, but if one could harness the combustable power of the escaping methane gas, and use it along with the "Base bleed" technology that Bull developed, maybe, just maybe, we could get a weasel into space.

Re:Buh Bye

[dj245]

well done, that is probably the funniest post I have read all month. I congradulate you, sir.

Re:Buh Bye

[mithras the prophet]

What is it with the Belgians? They'd rather not think about their own colonialist past, or their "neutrality" in WWII, so they spend their time prosecuting Israelis?

Re:Buh Bye

[Scrameustache]

If you break in and just rearrange all the furniture you're going to contribute to a general sense of paranoia and it's clear you weren't there to steal something.

Maybe it was just the feng-shui vigilante?

Just think its not the most threatning thing ever, redecorating, you know...

Re:Buh Bye

[chimpo13]

I don't think weapons research is a good thing. Not for "the bad guys" and not for "the good guys". There's not much of a difference anyway when both good and bad use their own citizens to test weapons on. But there's f-all I can do about it.

I sound like some crazy ol' hippy, damn it. That's what really burns my toast. At least we didn't cycle through communism. Some commie bashing should make me feel better. At least Bush Junior and Reagan were both good at polarizing the nation.

And albertoiii, not sure if you've just been trolling, but your link isn't working for me and the article I pointed out to says Saddam didn't have blood chemical agents. Here's the complete article.

Re:Buh Bye

[Abreu]

Arafat and Sharon are both murderers who should be facing tribunals.

Very true, one man's patriot is another's terrorist.

However, the solution to the israeli/palestinian problem could be a simple one, if only enough people in both groups would be reasonable.

First Step: Depopulate Jerusalem!
Since Jerusalem is a holy city for both groups (not to mention the christian communities there), there's no way any of them would stand it being in the sole possesion of the other. So Jerusalem should be a UN controlled DMZ where religious visits from any of the groups would be welcomed, although the visitors would have to be escorted by blue helmets, at least for a few years.

Re:Buh Bye

[Moofie]

Good bad or indifferent, it is necessary for survival on this planet.

Think of it as evolution, only more expensive. Them what don't adapt, die.

Re:Buh Bye

[Rei]

It's not just "no matter what Reagan thought". Even congress refused to condemn him for the Halabja bombing. It was hardly a rare notion. Believe it or not, the prevaling attitude at the time was, "Yes, Saddam's a brutal strongman, but he's *our* brutal strongman". Saddam was seen as our great hope to stop the spread of Iranian fundamentalism. There are many, at the time, who would have viewed Bull as heroic for what he did.

Want a modern equivalent? Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov. We're giving tons of money and weapons to the government of Uzbekistan, headed by brutal strongman Islam Karimov. Karimov is one of the leaders in the world with the dubious distinction of having had a worse record than Saddam Hussein in the past decade. Even the British, his allies, reluctantly keep being forced to release reports that his government is *still* boiling people to death. Note that "boiling to death" is more than a little bit unpleasant, and is actually worse than most of the things Saddam was accused of that proved later to be as vaccuous as the massive WMD stockpiles. And that's hardly all that Karimov has done...

Moral relativism is alive and well. You can't blame people in the 80s as if they invented it. Who knows - a decade from now, people may view those who collaborated with the extreme repression of women and support of terrorism of Saudi Arabia in the same way we view Iraq. Or perhaps we'll view those who focused on Saddam, instead of North Korea (which has many *literal* concentration camps, in true WWII style) as being a huge evil. It's hard to say. Society unfortunately judges morals based on how things turn out.

Re:Buh Bye

[ggvaidya]

The CIA has said [blogspot.com] ...

The CIA posts press releases to blogs now? Wow ... authorative, man.

Re:Buh Bye

[chimpo13]

Golly gee, Mister Smarty-pants. I posted a link to the original IPS news service article in a follow-up.

If I make it to Singapore any chance you'd give me a fly tour and show me what you do?

travel?

[mabu]

I won't charge you millions of dollars like the big-boys might. I won't question your politics or religious beliefs. I simply ask that you provide me with travel to your location plus safe, warm, comfortable accommodation for the duration of the project, and employ me at an agreed rate for my services.

Somehow I suspect this guy might have some trouble travelling anywhere now....unless he can ride on his cruise missile.

If this guy has trouble finding accommodations, maybe he can share rooms with all the agents that will be tailing him.

Re:travel?

[feyhunde]

That's why he has the missle on the SUV, it will keep the Kiwi cops off his tail until he meets the submarine transport the employers will send him. Of course the hero will be either be on the transport, or find out quick where it went.

Re:travel?

[b0r0din]

Somehow I suspect this guy might have some trouble travelling anywhere now....unless he can ride on his cruise missile.

Maybe they should have entitled this article 'Dr. Simpson, or How I Learned to Love the Cruise Missile.'

"You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!"

Re:travel?

[Rei]

I thought it was amusing how he mentioned that Iran had an interest in it. Honestly, if I was building a weapon and I suddenly got a phone call from "Iran", I think I'd just simply tell the person on the other line that, while I'm impressed with their accent, I have no interest in taking part in a CIA agent's sting operation against me at this time.

Re:travel?

[Rei]

I'm sure Vanunu was told the equivalent about the Israeli government.

Seriously, when you're doing things that tick incredibly powerful governments off like crazy... you pretty much have to expect sting operations against you.

I used to room with someone who used to work in army intelligence as a translator (she speaks fluent Russian and German, and bits of dozens of other languages; when the war in Afghanistan broke out, she lectured me on how to properly form plurals in Pashtu). The sort of devious things they used to do to get signal intercepts alone is enough to make one paranoid if they're doing something that will make a government mad at them.

Then there's the specific examples. For example, the one and only anti-Dudayev missile made from a modified HARM. The assasination of Yahya Ayyash via an exploding cell-phone (they could have simply killed him outright, but that had a much more profound psychological effect). Etc. And these are just some cases that involve death.

I'll reiterate. If you really tick off a government, you better expect a sting operation. If you don't, you're A) just plain dumb, and B) going to end up in jail or dead rather quickly.

Cost efficiency

[amliebsch]

Rather than having CIA pay a bunch of intelligence officers to monitor this guy, maybe the DoD should just hire him first.

Re:Cost efficiency

[cynic10508]

maybe the DoD should just hire him first.

Would only work if he became a U.S. citizen. And even then it might be difficult at best. Doesn't matter how close of an ally New Zealand is. A German friend of mine couldn't even get a job with a FFRDC, which is a 501c3 corporation.

Re:Cost efficiency

[Pantero Blanco]

Actually, I wonder why the New Zealand government's equivalent to the DoD didn't hire him, if they're so worried about him. That would seem to be the most sensible thing for them to do, rather than try to stifle/imprison/crucify and have humanitarians/wannabe humanitarians all over the world yelling "Foul!"

I still think what he did wasn't too bright, but neither was their response...

Re:Cost efficiency

[Kirill Lokshin]

One good reason would be the fact that he wants to build cruise missiles. If you hire him, your neighbors might suddenly start asking unpleasant questions about your objectives in building the things.

Re:Cost efficiency

[Pantero Blanco]

...But he wouldn't really be building them if the NZ Government hired him, he'd be designing them, and maybe overseeing the construction of a few for the purpose of models or test subjects. Neighbors would only get shifty-eyed if you started mass-producing them. They don't see what goes on in your laboratories.

Also, if they'd hired him, they could have prevented all the hubbub. Their neighbors wouldn't know anything about him if it hadn't been made into a big deal.

Re:Cost efficiency

[halo8]

+5 insightfull

sorry out of mod points today

Re:Cost efficiency

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

Another reason for the USA not to hire him: We already have cruise missles.

Re:Cost efficiency

[Earplugs]

So do toilet bowls and hammers in the white house, so it seems.

Re:Cost efficiency

[Bitsy Boffin]

Doesn't matter how close of an ally New Zealand is.


NZ isn't that close of an ally to the US actually, we (New Zealand) won't let the US bring nuclear powered or armed vessels into our waters, and the US doesn't much like us for that.

Every now and then they try and "convince" us otherwise, like waving FTA's (free trade agreements) under our nose or making thinly veiled threats to take something away or not play ball on something.

And every time we give them the finger and tell them to go take thier toys and play somewhere else.

Re:Cost efficiency

[pkhuong]

I can't wait until a substantial portion of the USA is without power and the only source of electricity in the area is a nuclear-powered US carr....

Oh wait, things just don't work like that. I think I'll stick to The Incredible Machine.

Re:Cost efficiency

[Bitsy Boffin]

New Zealand is hydropowered for the most part, we do have a couple of coal fired stations but mostly as backup for when the lakes get a bit low and the power usage gets a bit high.

We also have a windfarm somewhere but that's of negligible contribution.

So our power generation capabilities are quite reliable for the forseeable future.

Anyway, I'd like to see any vessels nuclear power plant try to power an entire city let alone a country of 4 million people!

The NZ Nuclear Free stance is based on two directions

1. Nuclear Weapons are bad mm'kay.
2. Nuclear Power Generation (NPG) has a risk of contaminating our unique and isolated ecosystem.

I have no problem with NPG, but the risk to our ecosystem is too great, we have to find a better way to deal with the waste before NPG could be considered.

The Nuclear Weapons issue however is non-negotiable, and if the US won't confirm that conventionally powered vessels (are there any left anyway) do not carry nuclear weapons, then they are not permitted in NZ either.

Re:Cost efficiency

[cynic10508]

NZ isn't that close of an ally to the US actually, we (New Zealand) won't let the US bring nuclear powered or armed vessels into our waters, and the US doesn't much like us for that. Every now and then they try and "convince" us otherwise, like waving FTA's (free trade agreements) under our nose or making thinly veiled threats to take something away or not play ball on something. And every time we give them the finger and tell them to go take thier toys and play somewhere else.

And what of echelon? That's not really giving the NSA the finger.

Re:Cost efficiency

[TheCrazyFinn]

It's happened.

Except it wasn't a Nuke.

IIRC it was the USS Lexington in 1930, providing power to part of Washington State.

The (original) Lexington & Saratoga used a primitive version of the IPS propulsion system proposed for the DDX Next-generation Destroyer that the Navy's working on. Basically a Turbine/Electric Drivetrain.

Current Carriers simply do not have the power output for this, as they use direct-drive powertrains rather than Turbine/Electric. Nuke plants are a Steam Source, not an Electricity source (Unless they're MHD and that's still a a pipe dream). The next series of carriers will likely use IPS, as the next-generation EM Catapults will need a larger power output than the current setup can provide.

As an Aside, Diesel/Electric Locomotives have been unes in this capacity quite often. During the Ice Storm in Quebec a few years ago, CN even intentionally derailed one and drove it down main street in a small town to provide power.

Re:Cost efficiency

[Moofie]

So he can teach the DoD how to build cruise missiles? Talk about taking coals to Newcastle...

Re:Cost efficiency

[91degrees]

:)

I think he'd be more of a asset looking at potential threats. The D0D don't need cheaper military hardware, but they do need to know how a poorer nation might go about it.

Re:Cost efficiency

[Moofie]

Then they can hire me. Maybe they will. I'm a lot easier to get along with than this cantankerous Kiwi.

: )

Seriously: Low cost cruise missiles are not at all complicated. It's hard to imagine how the DoD wouldn't be able to figure out how a poorer nation might employ them.

Re:Cost efficiency

[91degrees]

Well, sure, but did you come up with the question? This Kiwi did. The answer is obvious. The question is the hard bit.

Re:Cost efficiency

[Moofie]

Uh, yeah. I'm sure he's the first person to ever think of using a remote controlled aircraft to deliver a bomb load. I'm sure nobody's thought of putting weapons on UAVs before this guy. You're right...let's get that guy a grant.

Uh, no.

Look, he's a tinkerer, who has some good engineering skills and got crosswise with the national security pukes in NZ. More power to him: I think he's gotten a raw deal, and I hope that he's successful.

But he isn't making anything that isn't conceptually obvious to anybody who's made a paper airplane go NNNYEEEEROOOOWWWMMMM! around a room.

Re:Cost efficiency

[drinkypoo]

Anyway, I'd like to see any vessels nuclear power plant try to power an entire city let alone a country of 4 million people!

My understanding is that it has been done in fairly recent history, powering a fairly major city in California, perhaps during the '89 earthquake. Unfortunately all I could find relating to aircraft carriers (or at least my search terms) was an item where some aircraft crashed into a vehicle at an airport and some 2500 or so homes were without power. :)

Re:Cost efficiency

[pdcull]

...we could fire them at Ozzie (in retaliation for underarm bowling perhaps)

Where's the big boys?

[goatstuffer]

Surely this guy should be swimming in offers from the aerospace industry, or any related field. If he can hammer out a homegrown cruise missile, there must be some talent there.

Perhaps he doesn't want to work in such an environment and wants to go solo. Fair enough.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[traskjd]

He would seem from his webpage to really want to stay in NZ but that the government has tried to screw him so badly he has no choice but to leave to find someone who can employ him for what he's good at.

I am from NZ and there are no "big boys" here (largest NZ company is worth 4billion dollars, got our first billionaire last year as well - give some info on what the scale is here).

Re:Where's the big boys?

[LostCluster]

As somebody who is not an American citizen, he likely cannot get security clearance to work for the American miliatary aerospace industry... and that's the only one that still exists, everyone else buys from the USA.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[bmw]

What I don't get is why this guy doesn't use his skills to do something a little safer and more worthwhile. Obviously he's got some brains... Too bad he's wasting them.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[robogun]

Unlikely he can pass security clearance anymore.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[hoppy]

Did Werner Von Braun got his security clearance ? This guy made Saturn V, he was in Gemini and Apollo projects, no problem for a talented engineer who made who also made V1 and V2 for Hitler.

IMHO Security clearance should not be the problem.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[Kirill Lokshin]

Of course, he began working for the US after he built the V1 and V2, which the US couldn't match at the time. Since the US already has cruise missiles, I suspect the reception will be rather cooler.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

As somebody who is not an American citizen, he likely cannot get security clearance...

Nonsense. You do not have to be a citizen to get a clearence. BUT, it helps not to be a nut.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[karit]

Yeah he put one of the jets on a Go Kart http://aardvark.co.nz/pjet/

Re:Where's the big boys?

[Eric Smith]

What I don't get is why this guy doesn't use his skills to do something a little safer and more worthwhile.

Pulsejet research may not be the safest endeavor, but there's no particular reason to think that it's not generally worthwhile.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[ozmanjusri]

You've got to be kidding. The last thing the US aerospace industry wants is cheap and simple cruise missiles. They have government contracts. They want the biggest, most complicated and above all, the most expensive solutions out there.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[pyrrhonist]

As somebody who is not an American citizen, he likely cannot get security clearance to work for the American miliatary aerospace industry...

Well, first of all, you don't always need a security clearance to work in the military aerospace industry. Different services of the U.S. military have different security requirements for contractors. Since everything is done on a, "need to know basis", sometimes even people with clearance aren't working with anything considered, "secret". It's also quite common to have people with no security clearance working on projects with others that require security clearance. The people without clearance, simply don't work on and don't know about the secret aspects of the system.

In fact, I remember a code review where the guy who wrote the code didn't have a security clearance, but the code reviewers did. Every time they had to discuss the secret aspects of the system, they would send him out of the room. That may seem weird, as he was the code's author, but it was his code's integration to the rest of the system they were discussing, not specific portions of his code.

Secondly, I worked with one guy who had a secret clearance even though his parents were Vietnamese nationals. Under strict interprtation of the law at that time, I think it would have been considered illegal for him to have any sort of contact with his parents. In other words, even in situations where it seems unlikely that a person would get a security clearance, they are still able to get one if the person's expertise is necessary for the contract.

and that's the only one that still exists, everyone else buys from the USA.

In this case, depending on the requirements of the contract with the foreign government, he might not need clearance.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[PaulBu]

You do not have to be a citizen to get a clearence

Really? Can you elaborate on that, please? (I am quite personally interested, not a troll! ;-) ). I can imagine that they can grant citizenship and THEN clearance, but the other way around?...

Paul B.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[really?]

There are ALL KINDS of "clearance", many - most ?? - of which do not require citizenship.
(See German young man who bought it in Afghanistan while on service for the CIA.)

Re:Where's the big boys?

[traskjd]

You people from Western New Zealand... never give up on a chance do ya.

Re:Where's the big boys?

[rbbs]

Can you say Airbus?

Any Non-Terrorists....?

[sTalking_Goat]

So what? When he's goes to the Job interview do they show him their UN approved IANAT certificate?

Personally if I could design and build cruise missles I wouldn't want it well known. I don't need to give Al Qaeda reason to kidnap me my strap electrodes to my balls and lock me in an underground machine shop in the middle of the Tora Bora.

Re:Any Non-Terrorists....?

[isorox]

Personally if I could design and build cruise missles I wouldn't want it well known. I don't need to give Al Qaeda reason to kidnap me my strap electrodes to my balls and lock me in an underground machine shop in the middle of the Tora Bora.

You seem to be confusing "Al Qaeda" with "U.S. Army", do an s/Tora Bora/Abu-Ghurayb/.

Re:Any Non-Terrorists....?

[WarMonkey]

Mod parent up. The guy has got a point.

Re:Any Non-Terrorists....?

[sTalking_Goat]

right becuase the US has a Patent on that electrodes on balls technique.

Al Qaeda wouldn't want to get sued for IP infringement...

Re:Any Non-Terrorists....?

[Sweetshark]

If the US military had a cheap way to buy/kidnap him, they still wouldnt do it ... after all Boeing, Raytheon and General Dynamics need to have money pumped thier way in huge amounts ...

Re:Any Non-Terrorists....?

[spectasaurus]

Ha ha. That's the best and most appropriate response yet.

Re:Any Non-Terrorists....?

[0x0d0a]

Good point.

The United States has drafted people and forced them to fight in its wars.

In some ways, al Quaeda is a much more ideal organization -- they ask for volunteers.

Re:Any Non-Terrorists....?

[isorox]

If the OP had said threated to behead me then I'd agree, but the only incident of electrode-ball interaction I know is from the U.S. Army.

Re:Any Non-Terrorists....?

[0x0d0a]

Only idiots like you would compare the US to these terrorist peices of slime.

Why not shoot down my reasoning, if it's so flawed, instead of just calling me names?

As for "terrorist pieces of slime", the United States has been fighting proxy wars in a number of countries around the world for some time, "terrorist" has been little more than the buzzword for "the guys being backed by the other side", and "freedom fighters" as the buzzword for "the guys backed by us", even if the tactics are identical.

Terrorism is defined by the use of force against civilians to produce political influence. This is a tactic that, while obviously not invented by the United States, is heartily endorsed by it. The last three largest booms in terrorism were all enacted by the United States:

* The "Total War" in the South under General Sherman's command in the Civil War, where all civilian infrastructure was targetted en masse. At least in recent history, this is the first major surfacing of targetting of civilians in war.

* The use of civilian-targetted bombing in World War II, it could be argued, was initiated by an accidental German bombing from a single plane lost during the Battle of Britain. However, ultimately Britain was responsible for the first large deliberate bombing targetting civilians (as a response). The United States and Britain proceeded to engage in massive anti-civilian bombing. The United States also engaged in this behavior in the Pacific theater, with firebombing of Japanese civilians.

* The use of atomic weaponry against human beings has only ever been engaged in by the United States, and was used against cities rather than isolated military targets.

The problem is that you've likely had a tremendous amount of US-based nationalistic propaganda shoved down your throat. If by "terrorist scum" you mean bin Laden and friends, then you're talking about a group that was backed by the United States for years to do exactly what they're doing now...but against the Soviet Union (especially entertaining, with Bush using "backing terrorism" as a reason for a country to be considered evil and fair game for invasion). You're talking about a group that is primarily engaged in fighting for religious reasons -- exactly the same reason the United States was founded, if you'll remember.

Don't get me wrong. I don't like bin Laden blowing up US civilians. But neither am I going to pretend that he's some kind of evil monster and that the people in the US that have been doing the same thing for years are noble, good, and idolizable -- I consider to be ethically on the level of the guy that gave the go-ahead for the dropping of the atomic bomb (though technically the atomic bomb guy killed over an order of magnitude more people and did so at a juncture when peace probably could have been obtained within a month without use of the atomic bomb, but we'll let that slide). Bin Laden is a fairly ballsy person fighting at fairly nasty odds and keeping ahead of the opposition. The position he holds is, for many people, much like what George Washington holds for USians (remember all that "dishonorable" business of hiding behind trees and rocks instead of shooting from the open, in the manner that military action was "supposed" to happen and the way the British army fought at the time?)

Really, the US bashing on slashdot has gotten out of control. You don't like anything the US does.

No, I like a lot of things that the US does. The problem is that generally, in politics, one doesn't crow about the minor political improvements as much as one does about the horrible political fuckups, and the Bush administration has had more than its share of fuckups.

You think that everything that is bad in the world is the US's fault. Fine you are entitled to your beleif.

Of course not. Some things are -- as it happens, US oil policy and actions supporting oil policy are pretty nasty things, and oil policy happens to currently be in the

He's probably just showboating

[subaquatique]

Royally screwed by the government, I think he's just trying to say "this is what I COULD do, think about it."

I just happens that having already built a cruise missile does add some weight to his comments.

Re:He's probably just showboating

[taniwha]

well in this case 'royally screwed' actually means 'couldn't pay a back tax bill' - since he was the guy who apparently didn't pay originally his taxes it's maybe more of a self-abuse ...

He claims that they called the tax bill due suddenly because of his 'cruise missile' activities .... and there may well be some truth to this (who knows?) .... but he got himself into this situation himself by not paying his taxes initially

Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[LostCluster]

Governments that are political friends of the USA have access to officially made missles... and any government that's not one is also usually not allowed to possess such missiles thanks to international embargos...

So, just who exactly is his target audience. Who, other than a terrorist organization or government able to order the official version would want a missile?

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[sTalking_Goat]

North Korea already has cruise missles, so Cuba maybe.

Personally if I were Fidel Castro, I'd be giving this guy a call....

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[LostCluster]

Wouldn't Castro be defined as a "terrorist" due to the fact he's an unelected dictator with history of killing those who challenge him?

The USA just hasn't invaded Cuba because it doesn't have anything we want and isn't a serious threat to us either.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[Kirill Lokshin]

... and any government that's not one is also usually not allowed to possess such missiles thanks to international embargos...

But that's the whole point. They can't buy such missiles from the US, but they could very well have the resources Simpson needs to build one for them. This is particularly true for countries (like Pakistan or India) who have WMDs but need better ways to deliver them.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[thorgil]

ehhh....., both india and pakistan already have long-range missiles capable of delivering nukes. /T

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[Flamingcheeze]

Isn't it possible for a country to NOT be an ally on the US and ALSO NOT be a terrorist country? Is that now the definition of a terrorist... "not an ally of the us?"

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[Kirill Lokshin]

Well, they're right next to each other. I think cruise missiles would be more useful to them than ICBMs ;)

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[Zocalo]

So, just who exactly is his target audience. Who, other than a terrorist organization or government able to order the official version would want a missile?

Anyone who needs an unmanned flying vehicle, whether remote controlled or pre-programmed, that uses similar principles to a cruise missile. There are several uses for such a thing besides the obvious destructive ones; a surveillance vehicle like the Predator, for example. It needn't be used by the military either - with a camera in the nose and a search grid flight program you could use it for Search and Rescue operations.

I'd suggest offering his skills to one of the teams competing for the X-Prize or something similar, but since most of those are based in the US I don't think he'd be allowed in the country.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[sTalking_Goat]

Definitely. In all seriousness though, Castro wouldn't do it. Whatever you think of the guy and his politics you have to admit he's outlasted a lot of his fellow dictators. The guy's not stupid. He's knows how to stay off the radar.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[sTalking_Goat]

Isn't it possible for a country to NOT be an ally on the US and ALSO NOT be a terrorist country? Is that now the definition of a terrorist... "not an ally of the us?"

You must be new here. (earth)

that was sarcasm. Just in case anyone is confused.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[thorgil]

well... they need cruise missiles with 2000 km range at least... both are darn big countries...

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[flamingnight]

Isn't it possible for a country to NOT be an ally on the US and ALSO NOT be a terrorist country? Is that now the definition of a terrorist... "not an ally of the us?"

Nope. Bush said it himself: "You are either with us or against us in the fight against terror."

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

Is that now the definition of a terrorist... "not an ally of the US?"

Yes.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[WarMonkey]

Uhhh, yeahhhh. We all know how credible that source is.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[c0d3h4x0r]

Who, other than a terrorist organization or government able to order the official version would want a missile?

SCO?

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[macdaddy357]

I've got a cruise missle,
huh huh huh,
huh huh huh,
in my pants!

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[sTalking_Goat]

Oh sorry, I didn't realize the article mentioned Castro... oh wait it doesn't.

I read the article. Did you?

moron.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[Anonymous Coward]

In the weapons sales arena you buy from friendly US merchants of death or you are part of the axis of evil.

There are some disturbing exceptions. Israel buys weapons from the US and has sold them to straight up terrorists, nations itching to use the same weapons against it, but it appears to have done that at the US's request like during Iran-Contra.

Pakistan is supposedly part of the US coalition but has made huge sales of nuclear tech that were recently discovered.

If I were a terrorist I wouldn't want the US tech, it so such expensive and high maintenance "policing" equipment. The former USSR made all the free designs for AK-47s and RPGs and those have so much more bang for the buck it makes me wonder how the US ever hopes to win a war on terrorism when their military costs are so many orders of magnitude higher.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[pyrrhonist]

In all seriousness though, Castro wouldn't do it.

Yeah, especially after that minor incident that happened in the 60s where we blockaded Cuba. You know, the one that caused DEFCON to be raised to 2 and the creation of the "nuclear football" shortly thereafter.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[Sergeant Beavis]

Not every government (friend of foe) wants to spend $600,000 per missle for a Tomahawk. That price doesn't include the launch system for a Tomahawk. The other US built cruise missle is the Air Launched Cruise Missle (ALCM) that the Airforce launches off of B-52s and B-1Bs. That missle isn't used by any other country because they don't have a good bomber to use as a weapons platform. I'm not even sure if we even offer the ALCM for export. So far, the only other user of the Tomohawk is the British Royal Navy.

The Russians have cruise missles (both sea and air launched) and I'm sure they are cheaper but their accuracy is an unknown quantity. The French also have their Air-Sol Moyenne Portee (ASMP) cruise missile.

The point this guy makes is that he can make one that is reasonably accurate and MUCH cheaper.

Hypothetically, it wouldn't be a bad idea for a nation like Taiwan, who has a limited defense budget but a much larger adversary right across the straight, to come up with a medium range and cheap cruise missle that they could produce in large numbers. If they had a couple thousand of these, Bejing might think a second or two longer before coming after them.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[0x0d0a]

We all know how credible that source is.

Who, Bush? He doesn't always lie. Sometimes he's just stupid.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[mcpkaaos]

how the US ever hopes to win a war on terrorism when their military costs are so many orders of magnitude higher.

Well, when you run with a crowd that just prints more money when they run out, the world is really your oyster.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[ganhawk]

India has an advanced Cruise missle already. Its called BrahMos. It's faster than the US cruise missle but its range is shorter. Nevertheless its range is sufficient for all its targets.

Related News

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[deebaine]

Even a terrorist wouldn't want one. It just isn't cost effective. For $5000, Bruce will build me a cruise missile that will carry 10kg of explosives 160km. Or I could find myself a brainwashed kid (free), strap him (or her) up with 10kg of explosive (dunno how much it costs, but Bruce's missile is batteries-not-included in this regard, so I have to buy it anyhow) and some ball bearings ($2?) in a backpack (used, $5), and have 'em hitch a ride to find an Israeli disco, bus, or religious gathering. Then I can pocket the $4993 before going on TV to talk about the "cycle of violence."

-db

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[Alien Being]

The people voted against Bush, so I'm not sure that he can be classified as an ally. I'm pretty sure that he weighs more than a duck, so the only conclusion I can draw is that Bush is a terrorist witch.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[_Sharp'r_]

Good idea. I'll have my contacts in Taiwan setup up a lunch with this guy...

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[TurkishGeek]

What makes you think that Taiwan needs the services of a self-taught amateur cruise missile enthusiast? Taiwan has a sophisticated aerospace industry that has designed, built and flown its indigenous jet fighter, short and medium range air to air missiles. Taiwanese industry can build a cruise missile without this guy's help in very short notice. A cruise missile is not a terribly difficult thing to build anyhow; with the exception of the miniature jet engine you need to obtain a sufficiently long range. It's just that they are not cost effective unless you have a payload that packs quite a punch, and that translates to a WMD.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[pegr]

You said "The guy's not stupid. He's knows how to stay off the radar."

Now, is advertising yourself as free-lance cruise missle designer on the Internet what you would call "staying off the radar?" If you were referring to Castro, perhaps you should state that.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[sTalking_Goat]

You see this is why context is so important in any discussion. The full text of my orginal comment follows.

Definitely. In all seriousness though, Castro wouldn't do it. Whatever you think of the guy and his politics you have to admit he's outlasted a lot of his fellow dictators. The guy's not stupid. He's knows how to stay off the radar.

Now its quite obvious that I'm speaking about Castro in this paragraph. I start off by mentioning Castro by name in the second sentence. I also assert in the follow-up sentence that "he's outlasted a lot of his fellow dictators..." since 1. I didn't mention Mr Simpson and 2. I also use the word "dictator" its pretty obvious that I didn't switch the subject of my discussion to Mr. Simpson and since el Presidente Castro is the only other person I have mentioned by name up till now, I think it would be prett evident that I am still refering to Mr. Castro.

Now for me to suddenly change subjects 3/4 of the way through my statement to Mr. Simpson without implicitly stating so would be total incomprehensible to anyone who happens to read it. Since you are the only who seemed to misunderstand the meaning of my final two statements, tells me that the problem is with your understanding and not with my writing. Secondly since you decided to attack me rather than asking for clarification or something you misunderstood, tells me something about your ability to hold a rational conversation.

And finally and least importantly, if you happened to come across one of my many other comments on this article you would have noticed that I mention several times that mouthing off about building cruise missles for anyone who asks is porbably not the best course of action, for someone who values his continued existence.

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[escallywag]

Who, other than a terrorist organization or government able to order the official version would want a missile?

Me !

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[Sergeant Beavis]

What part of hypothetical did you not understand? ;-)

Re:Non terrorist users of criuse missiles?

[TurkishGeek]

I am pointing out why it is not even hypothetically possible. Your hypothesis that Taiwan may even be remotely interested in this avenue is absurd.

I need one.

[austus]

There's this friggin dog across the street that won't shut its yap.

Re:I need one.

[vwjeff]

There's this friggin dog across the street that won't shut its yap.

I don't think you'll need that much power. A high power rifle with a scope would do just fine, IMHO.

+1 for style though, even if it takes out the neighborhood.

(I love dogs. I would never hurt a dog. The owner, that's a different story.)

Re:I need one.

[ffsnjb]

Why would you waste good ammo (anything more expensive than .22LR/Mag or .17HMR) on a dog? A double tap on the trigger from my Ruger .22 would drop a dog at 100 yards unless it was some huge St. Bernard. A triple tap would work then.

Total cost: $0.15

I don't condone taking dogs out though. But if it needs to be done, save the expensive ammo for deer season. Or that damn cat that won't STFU in the middle of the night. :)

Sounds like he has lots of options to me

[Fiz Ocelot]

Indeed, I'm now effectively prohibited from using any of my key skills to support myself

Come on now, it sounds like this guy is a very capable engineer and he's saying this? Aren't there any firms in his country that can use someone smart enough to build these things?

I guess he can't build missiles there which is a bummer, but surely his skills can be applied to many things such as aerospace engineer. If anything, I bet he'd have better chances in Australia, which isn't too far away.

Re:Sounds like he has lots of options to me

[traskjd]

I live in NZ and the short answer is No.

We don't build anything like that - heck, it was a massive national debate because we brought 3 second hand frigates! The guy really does need more international exposure to get a job but I think if he didn't get the offers he wanted when it was on the news he ain't going to get them now.

Re:Sounds like he has lots of options to me

[Anonymous Coward]

As another Kiwi, I agree that NZ is just too small for most careers, but to suggest he couldn't find a job?

That's insane - you know as well as I do, there's a shortage of skilled workers for a load of different areas (not even considering a hop across the ditch to Australia).

Maybe, he just isn't that qualified? I don't know about you, but when I saw the details of what he had done, I wasn't that impressed - it was nuts-and-bolts type stuff. Hobby rocketry on a slightly bigger scale than normal.

I'm not saying it doesn't take determination, but it could just be that his qualifications don't extend beyond tinkering at home in the shed.

In which case, it's perfectly understandable that, yet again, he's trying to get into the spotlight.

Re:Sounds like he has lots of options to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Okay, I know I'm not the only one who read this and spent a moment trying to figure out what the hell a three-second hand-frigate was.

Re:Sounds like he has lots of options to me

[koan]

maybe it's a pity play for money.

Re:Sounds like he has lots of options to me

[traskjd]

:D That's classic :D

Just A Thought

[Jane_Dozey]

I'm sure this guy is capable in his field, but I'm wondering why he's finding it so difficult to get a job.
Could it just be down to the authorites imposing restrictions? Or is there a multitude of things effecting his situation, most of which he's just ignoring and placing the blame squarely on his government?
He doesn't have to job hunt in NZ alone. Experience and skills in the weapons department arn't exactly qualifications everybodies got.

Re:Just A Thought

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

He doesn't have to job hunt in NZ alone.

True. And also, for him to say the NZ gov is preventing him from getting a job in his area of experise in NZ is just crap. NZ does not have any rocket / missle manufacturers.

Oh yeah....

[Kid Zero]

His life expectancy just went up. Right... Anyone recall the fate of Dr. Gerald Bull?

Dead within a year. Tops.

Re:Oh yeah....

[sTalking_Goat]

I understand why the guy is pissed, but I wouldn't be mouthing off like that.

If the Kiwis handed him off to the US Mil on some trumped up Material Support charge he'd disappear into a secret military prison never to be heard from again...I don't think being high profile would help him. Not in a "post-911 world"....

Re:Oh yeah....

[Kid Zero]

Which is what I mean, really. He's just begging to be "vanished". Like he hung a sign on his back "Kidnap Me!"

His only saving factor might be that most terrorist groups don't need cruise missles and most nations already could build one.

zerg

[Lord Omlette]

Awesome, so I'll see this guy on this list real soon now, right?

I love the technology curve!

[BrokenStructure]

"There is no question that cruise missile, UAV, bio-warfare, chemical weapons technology, and probably nuclear technologies will all continue to fall in cost significantly for the foreseeable future." How much longer before any of these can be purchased at the local cornerstore? Beer, Smokes, and... oh look! 2-for-1 on mustard gas!

Re: I love the technology curve!

[Fortran IV]

Yes, mustard gas was a nasty thing--a very nasty thing--to use in war.

But did you know that msutard gas was also the very first chemical used as a successful chemotherapy treatment for cancer?

Yes, I'd guess that the first use for an LCCM (and second, and third) might be terrorism. But you never can predict what horror of today will find a beneficial use tomorrow. Not every tech advance comes from NASA.

Re:I love the technology curve!

[thomas536]

Did anybody else think, "I'm sure that in 1985, plutonium is available at every corner drug store, but in 1955, it's a little hard to come by."?

Re:I love the technology curve!

[BrokenStructure]

hahahaha

no career choices?

[mabu]

Let me see if I can get this straight...

This guy can homebrew cruise missiles, embedded electronic guidances systems, program firmware, craft things out of blocks of wood and other materials, work with fiberglass, understands chemistry, electronics, metal fabrication and various other skills, and he's claiming that unless he can build MISSILES he can't provide for his family?

Re:no career choices?

[John Courtland]

I think that lack of skilled tradesmen is because you guys have such damn high immigration standards. Not knocking NZ or anything, but, couldn't you guys lax up a bit? It's like all you want there are movie stars and oil barons.

Re:no career choices?

[John Courtland]

Well, first off, it seems like a beautiful country. I'd enjoy living amongst those mountains. The only real qualm for me would be the tech, from what you list. I don't plan on having children, maybe ever, I don't really care for doctors anyhow so big deal there, so yeah, the cost you guys pay for tech seems outrageous though. Maybe I'll keep looking at Canada, I can ALMOST get in there as it is.

Re:no career choices?

[maxpublic]

Well hell, if your nearest neighbor was Australia you'd want high immigration standards, too.

Max

Re:no career choices?

[nzhavok]

Well having lived there for 20 odd years before emigrating before to Europe I can tell you that you probably wouldn't want to live there unless you were a movie star or an oil baron.

It's a fine country to live in if you don't have to work but if you do be prepared to be fucked upon and ripped off. When I left I was working for a big international IT firm and was getting around US$9 per hour. ON FIXED TERM CONTRACT. Not even as a full employee (Although I was employed, not an independent contractor). The only regret I have is leaving friends and family.

If you move there and are not already wealthy, then prepare never to leave it again, as you will find it very difficult to match income with a 1st world country, making it difficult to get out.

Having said all that, it still might be a step up from the USA, the lower class in NZ seem to do better from what I can tell.

I might go back to NZ to retire, but I'd say there's a higher chance I'd retire to Australia as long as it doesn't keep following US trends.

Re:no career choices?

[jrumney]

To be honest though, I don't get why people would really want to come to NZ - our standard-of-living is below average for the Western world, technology is _much_ more expensive, our hospital care isn't so great, the education quality is only average (shouldn't have mentioned that - I've undoubtedly misspelt something!).

You've never been outside New Zealand, have you? Standard of living is not measured in GDP, which many Kiwis with your attitude seem to think. And hospital care is certainly better than the UK, and a lot cheaper than the US. Maybe not the best in the world, but nearer the top than the bottom. As for technology, its not as cheap as the US, and some parts of South East Asia, but since there's no duty on electronic goods and GST is lower than most European VAT's, you'll find Europe more expensive in that area.

Re:GO BRUCE!

[traskjd]

Also as a Kiwi I have to say I love that photo of himself - very kiwi ("just built me a cruise missle in the backyard, yep" the overalls and gravel driveway really are a nice touch.

I agree though - go bruce! :D

Who buys 'em?

[Sean80]

OK, so here's my thing. What's the market for homebrew cruise missiles? Naughty kids aiming to get back at their children for giving them an F? Homebrew cruise missile societies? Totalitarian governments?

Seriously. Who buys 'em?

Re:Who buys 'em?

[mOoZik]

Uhh, wtf are you talking about? He's not build the cruise missile to sell to anyone, but rather, to prove to ignorant governments that anyone with enough money and expertise could do the very same. He is presenting a threat which has not yet surfaced, so we should be thanking him, because we will really be screwed if some terrorist or anti-U.S. group unleases a few dozen cruise missiles with many pounds of high explosives or bio/chem payloads on major U.S. cities or sporting events or whatever. He's trying to make a point, while nearly 99% of folks think he's doing this to sell to terrorists or show them how it's made.

Re:Who buys 'em?

[Brian Stretch]

He's not build the cruise missile to sell to anyone, but rather, to prove to ignorant governments that anyone with enough money and expertise could do the very same.

President Bush has already gotten the hint. It's what the Iraq war was really about. Sooner or later, pretty much any hostile regime with enough talent and/or wealth (more the latter than the former) will be able to build all sorts of toys that we really, REALLY don't want them to have, especially if there's even a slim chance that they'll hand them over to the type of people who think it's a good idea to drive jumbo jets into buildings. Changing one regime in the middle of the worst neighborhood and hoping like hell the domino theory kicks in was the best available option.

Remember kids, America built nuclear bombs with 1940's technology.

Re:Who buys 'em?

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

hanging one regime in the middle of the worst neighborhood and hoping like hell the domino theory kicks in was the best available option.

Regime-change + Hope. That about sums it up. Too bad they didn't think to actually come up with a plan beyond the regime-change part. It's not like these are real dominos and all they need is a simple little push...

Re:Who buys 'em?

[barc0001]

Changing one regime in the middle of the worst neighborhood and hoping like hell the domino theory kicks in was the best available option.

Are you joking? I'd say it was one of the worst options. Maybe the intended lesson was "Don't screw with us or we'll invade you", but it seems that North Korea and Iran heard it as "We'll invade you if we don't like you unless you have nukes, so you better get some if you want to keep your country"

Yeah, that worked out real well. 4 more years of that and maybe Syria and Egypt will be part of the nuclear club as well...

Re:Who buys 'em?

[Brian Stretch]

it seems that North Korea and Iran heard it as "We'll invade you if we don't like you unless you have nukes, so you better get some if you want to keep your country"

You think they didn't already know that? Iran and NK have had their nuclear programs going for way, way longer than Bush has been in office. Remember how the Clinton Administration stupidly agreed to give NK two light-water nuclear reactors in exchange for their promise to stop developing nuclear warheads? We now know they never stopped, and the largesse we gave them just helped prop up their tottering government.

NK has 10,000+ hardened artillery tubes pointed at the SK capital and SK (a fellow democracy) doesn't want us to invade NK. Iranian dissidents mostly don't want us to invade Iran, and they're getting very close to bringing that government down peacefully (Iran is at the same point the Soviets were in their final years). Iraqi dissidents mostly wanted us to knock off Saddam (Kurds and Shias more than Sunnis of course), something that our left-wing media tends not to report (some journalists had to be given a police escort away from a crowd of Iraqi immigrants celebrating the fall of Baghdad here in Michigan, they've been at least as pissed about the biased media coverage as hard-core right-wingers like me). Out of the three nations, taking care of Iraq made the most sense, and it has proven instructive to our enemies. It would be nice if the former Soviet useful idiots would get a clue and stop undermining us though.

Whoa!

[boarder8925]

DIY Cruise Missile Designer Turns Freelance

You mean an employee of the DIY Network left the company to build cruise missiles?

On the next episode of "Pimp My Ride"...

[mabu]

While Jane's at work, her best friend takes her 1981 Toyota Camry and gets it a fresh flame job, 15" rims, and a cruise missile attached to the roof!

Microsoft should hire him

[kaoshin]

Microsoft needs good weapons technologists to assist in their testing.

Consider the Russians

[bogaboga]

Yes, the Russians have been doing this for years. They undoubtedly have the best engineered and reliable systems in the world. The Americans now rely on Russian rockets. Their Buran (shuttle clone) landed withing 5 feet of its intended target...more accurate than anyone has ever achieved. They retired the MIR successfully with an accuracy of 0.5km when most western observers were worried that it would fall on them. They have the biggest and heaviest flying aircraft in the world. It will still dwarf the A-380. It once carried over 120 SUVs over Sudan to Entebbe when there was the great rally. I had the opportunity of seeing their ambitions on paper. The problem is funding. Best of all, they are darn cheap, dollar wise. Let hi team up with them.

Re:Consider the Russians

[dvdeug]

They have the biggest and heaviest flying aircraft in the world.

That's because the Soviet Union wants big things to show off. No one else in the world has bigger aircraft, because there's no need for bigger aircraft. The C-5, the USAF's largest plane was made in 1968. It's about two and half times longer than the C-130 which is the longest plane to land on an aircraft carrier. The USAF has been happy with those planes for 30 years. Likewise, 747s are the biggest commerical airliners to fly and they've been in the air for 30 years. Bigger is not better in a lot of cases.

Ah, lest you forget...

[mariox19]

Some people turn violently ill when it comes time to compose a resume!

Why dosn't he...

[laserbeak]

Take his knowledge into another field like rockets. He'll be less susceptible to assasination, and the CIA might just spare his life!

So is it shut down or what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Latest diary entry seems to indicate its not shut down at all:

http://www.interestingprojects.com/cruisemissile /d iary.shtml

Though it has the exact same date as the "goverment moves aggressively" article. Anyone following it closer know?

For my part...

[GrodinTierce]

I wish him the best of luck. After the way the NZ government screwed him, I hope they realize that they are largely to blame should anything bad come of this. I also can't help but wonder whether the US government (my government), was behind those shameful attempts in some way.

Re:For my part...

[koan]

they are part of the british common wealth...bush had to call blair to get him screwed.

Re:For my part...

[aardvarkjoe]

After the way the NZ government screwed him, I hope they realize that they are largely to blame should anything bad come of this.

Yeah, those bastards -- expecting somebody to pay their taxes.

Old News, Old Technology...

[norite]

Cruise missile technology is hardly new. Remember that the Nazis built their V1 Doodlebug (powered by the exact same pulse jet type engine) and the more powerful V2 ballistic missile over 60 years ago, complete with their own guidance systems - and they didn't have the luxury of GPS navigation back then... It's not exactly, erm, rocket science, is it? It's probably even easier today, with the aid of GPS.

It is probably more technologically challenging to build a nuclear device than it is to build a basic cruise missile, so those countries that posses nuclear weapons - Israel, Pakistan, India could quite easily build cruise missiles...

Re:Old News, Old Technology...

[Billy the Mountain]

Cruise missile technology is hardly new

Old != Useless as you seem to imply. Bruce's original stated goal was to alert the global community of the threat of cheaply built jet-powered missiles capable of traveling 400-500 M.P.H. Such a device would be very challenging to guard against. And let's not forget the incidents where Mathiast Rust landed a Cessna 172 in Moscow's Red Square or the other guy that landed the Cessna on the Whitehouse lawn.

Personally, I don't like Bruce. He's an asshole with a lot of gaul and he scammed me out of $45 U.S., but he's got a valid point.

BTM

Re:Old News, Old Technology...

[Billy the Mountain]

$45? Do tell.

Sure. About three years ago I ordered his CD-ROM that was supposed to provide pulsejet plans for most of his designs. Never came. Nagged him by email several times and gave up. Other people who had ordered kits and even completed engines lost much more money than I did, however.

BTM

Re:Old News, Old Technology...

[dukeisgod]

Sounds like this guy's talking about home-brewing V1 rockets. The allies were pretty damn good at intercepting them once the novelty wore off. They scrambled to intercept, and shot them down. They even got to the point of using the interceptor plane's wingtip to steer the V-1's away. That's why the nazi's came up with the V2. Ballistic missiles are much harder to defend against.

Re:Old News, Old Technology...

[antirename]

The low cost is the only interesting thing here... but it's really not that interesting since that's only the cost of materials. A LOT of slashdotters could build one of these; it's really NOT that hard. I'ts a guided model airplane running off a homemade pulsejet engine. This guy is after publicity. If I were going to build something like this my website would be www.interestingprojects.com/pulsejetplane/etc. Let the evil people figure out the killer applications for it, attract less attention (hint hint), and not wind up in deep shit with the government. There are already companies (British seem to be the best) that will sell you REALLY small jet engines, and the electronics at this point are all off the shelf. There was a Slashdot article a while back about a guy who built a scale B52 with 8 jet engines... yet the sites referenced never mentioned "payload" or "weapon". On a more serious note, with the electronic components so cheap terrorists may very well try something like this. Hard to stop...

Sympathy = Zero

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't see how this is any different than prosecuting the author of a computer virus that finds its way into the public domain.

Just because you can build something doesn't mean you should. Unleashing something with the potential to destroy people and property carries the inherent moral obligation to have the resources and a commitment to control its end-use and distribution. You may not like the way NZ shut him down - but how can anyone argue with the necessity of it?

This guy's bitterness and bravado tells you everything you need to know about his personality. I hope the Israeli's, Yanks or Aussies take him out sometime real soon.

Re:Sympathy = Zero

[Eric Smith]

I don't see how this is any different than prosecuting the author of a computer virus that finds its way into the public domain.

Maybe it's a little bit different because writing computer viruses is unlawful, but building pulsejets is not?

Re:Sympathy = Zero

[0x0d0a]

Just because you can build something doesn't mean you should.

On the other hand, just because you don't like the fact that it's easy to build something doesn't mean that you should stick your head in the sand and try kicking whoever it is that bluntly pointed out that such things can be built. The New Zealand government doesn't sound like it's handled this in a particularly good way either.

On the whole, though, this guy did something ostentatious to prove a point without the intent to hurt anyone, and with the hope of perhaps proving his skills. I think that there are a lot of people here that can relate -- sure, this guy happens to do aeronautical propulsion and control, but he's not doing anything that different from a lot of colorful techies that I know.

Heck, Melissa caused a lot more damage than a single cruise missile could.

Re:Sympathy = Zero

[Devster]

Hey, think about it, writing computer viruses isn't unlawful. Now, if they are released, that is a different situation....

Re:Sympathy = Zero

[antirename]

If you're not an American, you'd be amazed how paranoid our culture is. A couple years ago (pre 9/11) I built a "box" as my photographer friends call it that triggers a strobe from a microphone. It was an el-cheapo way to get pictures of bullets passing through various brittle, inanimate objects. Well, I needed some SCRs and some other stuff from the local radio shack. Here's the problem: the local radio shack had a few SCRs that met the specs I needed, but they had NEVER sold one in 25 years of business. Never. Problem 2: there was a guy in the store who knew something about electronics (freelance alarm guy). This guy was trying to impress the very cute store manager, but he didn't really know what an SCR was... so he told her it was used in "timing cicuits". I actually had to bring the finished product into the store, along with pictures of bullets going through things, before she stopped worring that she was supplying a terrorist or something. And, the friend that I built this thing for left my name off the ads for two of the three shows we did with pictures that were made using this device. Note: gallery openings are a good way to meet art chicks, especially if you live in a city with a famous art school :) Geeks working with artists can meet all kinds of neat people:) Am I worried that that the FBI has my name on a list of "people buying odd electronics"? No. Would I be surprised if such a list existed? No. Am I going back to the rat shack this weekend to buy some resistors and caps to trigger a timed chain of strobes? Yes... but I bought the 555 chips from Edmund Scientific. It's a shame how afraid our culture has become; we are a society of wimps. We're afraid of the terrorists, so we give the government more power. But, we're afraid of the government too. People freak when they get pulled over for speeding. And if you're just curious about something even halfway "techish" bystanders are going to read EVERYTHING into it exept "maybe this guy is just curious and tinkering around". I think this might be the first real political statement I've made on Slashdot, which will probably get modded down but: This country is getting way to paranoid, IMHO. Get a grip, buy a gun and learn to use it if it makes you feel better. Useless for a REAL terrorist problem, but if it makes you feel better go for it. And stop assuming the worst of the "hackers" among you. Just stop. If you don't think that this is the way things are, go to your local rat shack and buy something odd. Have a friend come in behind you and talk the manager up about timing circuits (they won't know anything; they're just trying to sell cell phones these days so the friend can spew absolute bullshit at this stage). Then watch the managers reaction. That's the problem.

Re:Sympathy = Zero

[Eric Smith]

In flagrantly building the missle (and continuing to do so) he was giving the finger to non-proliferation.

Can you cite a NZ law or regulation prohibiting building pulsejet-powered unmanned aircraft? That's all it was. That's not "proliferation" any more than anyone else building unmanned jet aircraft would be. He's certainly not the only civilian doing that.

Re:Sympathy = Zero

[Eric Smith]

Building an unmanned jet aircraft isn't unlawful either, nor is publishing the plans for one.

Everyone has reacted to this as if he has built something with a high explosive payload and aimed it at a city; nothing could be further from the truth. Get some sense of proportion, please.

Sounds like Final Destination 2

[vudufixit]

The originator of "buh bye" is on target in a general sense, that this person may very well be a target of a clever assasination. But his method is redolent of "Final Destination 2."
The Mossad didn't mess around with Goldbergesque plot machinations. They did Gerard Bull in the old fashioned way: several bullets to the head, after taking him completely by suprise.

Hasn't he heard of https?

[NitsujTPU]

If I were putting up a web form requesting that people purchase my services designing missiles, you'd be sure that it would be over an encrypted stream...

Form Action: "http://aardvark.co.nz/cgi-bin/p19937.cgi"

Re:Hasn't he heard of https?

[cbr2702]

He advises people to use the form to arrainge a more secure method of communication, not to send confidential information with. And while https is moderately secure, I doubt the US and other gov'ts have a very dificult time with it.

Re:Hasn't he heard of https?

[lamber45]

HTTPS is good for transport-level encryption, but it's still vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks or a compromised certificate authority. I'm surprised he's not using some form of PGP; he could presumably get a free certificate from CAcert, but there are only three members of that organization in New Zealand who can assure his identity.

The security of the protocol itself is just fine; it's the surrounding factors that make it hard to use, especially for someone who hasn't thought about these things well enough ahead of time.

Re:Message

[sysopd]

I put it in that place I put that one thing that one time.

What a supersillious dope...

[tyroneking]

... he could just get a normal job instead of claiming his only income stream is building missiles - I'm sure I could start building something deadly too - but would I start moaning when the government stopped me from doing so? (Probably)

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[account_deleted]

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Maybe you guys are looking at this the wrong way..

[Demanche]

Just to widen the discussion... What about amateur rocket lauching, commercial space launch industry, and other newer developments... I can see a demand for this guy in fields other then govemental fields... If a startup space launch company in the states wants someone firmiliar with rocket technology, this guy would be a great asset to help move to the us and have accomodations for...same goes for any country wanting to jump onto this bandwagon.. just my opinion though.. for all the conspiriacy theroy ppl ;)

Of course if he fails.

[LWATCDR]

You know it is not like he has built a working cruse missle yet. On has to wonder what the contract says about failure?
Frankly his pulse jet propulsion is not going to give you anything close to the range of the tubofan that real cruise missles use. The will also tend to be slow. Max speed of around 400 knots. Not likley to be stealthy. Pretty much an updated WWII V-1. Something that just about any college grad could whip up.
In other words go for it.

Re:Of course if he fails.

[Naffer]

I'm sure you just didn't realize it, but
"On the up-side, the missile has been completed (apart from some minor work that is relatively inconsequential) and, to ensure that the testing will proceed at sometime in the New Year, it is no longer in my possession -- but it is in safe hands.

Re:Of course if he fails.

[Gorobei]

Frankly his pulse jet propulsion is not going to give you anything close to the range of the tubofan that real cruise missles use. The will also tend to be slow. Max speed of around 400 knots. Not likley to be stealthy. Pretty much an updated WWII V-1.

Still, a very scary weapon if you could build and launch at around $20K a pop. Add a GPS, make it ground-hugging, and you have a weapon that is 100 times as cost effective as a Scud.

Something that just about any college grad could whip up.

Something just about any college grad could *understand*. Something that 1 in 5 college students could design given a year. Something that no college student could "whip up."

Engineering is very different from theory. Given a spec for a missile, I could "whip up" a design in 20 minutes or so: payload, range, target manuevability, maximum weight, maximum diameter, prep-time, etc, dictate the basic design (shape, fuel load, control surfaces, etc.) Ask five designers, and they'll all whip up roughly the same design. "Whipping up" the actual missile is a completely different proposition - expect 10+ man-years to produce something that is reliable, manufacturable, and cost-efficient.

Someone with all-around expertise in building pulse-jets could head a project that would start producing serious prototypes really fast. This is technology transfer at its scariest.

Re:Of course if he fails.

[LWATCDR]

This is nothing more than a large model plane. Pulse jets went out in the forties for a very good reason. As a motor they suck. I think any dictator that thinks he is getting a cheap Tomahawk is going to be very unhappy with what he gets. The range will tend to be in the 200 mile range and it will be pretty large.
Adding the GPS for ground hugging does not make it that much more survivable. Everyone and there dog now has look down shoot down doppler radar. Yea cheap and potentaly more accurate than a scud but a heck of a lot more likley to get shot down. Don't forget low means slow and short range.

Re:Of course if he fails.

[Gorobei]

The dictator/terrorist doesn't want a cheap Tomahawk, he wants a 200 mile range missile that can hit its target. He wants easy launch by a relatively untrained crew.

Against a technologically inferior foe, he's ahead of the game.

Against a superior foe (e.g. Israel), he wants them spending jet money to intercept WW2 tech. Build cheap, launch many, hope a few hit. Even if all are intercepted, you win if the cost to intercept is much bigger than the cost to launch.

Uses of cruise missiles?

[menscher]

Maybe I'm just not creative enough, but what would a non-terrorist organization want with a cruise missile?

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[BCW2]

I think you hit the point. Only Govts. have a use for cruise missles. A well run intelligence organization, like OBL, could make the guy think he was working for anyone else. This is really dangerous.

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[goon america]

The post office?

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[akb]

Depends on what you mean by non-terrorist organization, do you count countries? Countries always want to have what the other big kids have, ala India, China, France, Russia, etc.

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[arthurhh]

Survailence drones, target drones, oh and probably heaps more.

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, well, why would anyone want one?

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[kenada]

He could sell-out to the RIAA. It would certainly help to minimize the number of repeat-downloaders they have to sue.

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

(Posting anonymously so I can fix some asshat's unfair use of offtopic)

I take my 2nd ammendment rights seriously.

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Oops, guess I won't be fixing that. Haha.

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[guru zim]

If you could stop them accurately and safely, you could use them at hospitals to transfer organs for transplants.

Well, assuming you could safely transport organs at 400-500 mph...

Would be a heck of a lot quicker to launch one from the roof than it would be to get a helicopter there, fuel it, etc. You could keep a lot of them available on standby and send multiple organs at the same time.

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[theLOUDroom]

Maybe I'm just not creative enough, but what would a non-terrorist organization want with a cruise missile?

Why, to use it on terrorists of course :)

...you aren't a terrorist are you?

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[blaberski]

Drug Dealers :)

They could load a UAV up in Columbia and have it fly low into the US and drop off its payload somwhere on the route.

Even if the UAV is lost, it would probably be worth it as long as drugs are illigal in the States.

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[Minwee]

I think Shatner put this best.

"What does God need with a cruise missile?"

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[pkhuong]

France? Like, the country with the 2nd or 3rd largest military? Or "that other nuclear power"? France IS a big guy. Disregard propaganda. Do remember the fact that they were one of (if not the first) the first modern democratic countries, and have truly helped others (USA) become democratic. Sometimes, when a friend says "no", he's still a friend, not a whiny old bastard.

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[Bishop]

he's still a friend, not a whiny old bastard.

Sometimes he is both.

Re:Uses of cruise missiles?

[pmfp]

The difference being that India can buy weapons from basically anywhere and China and most other "uncertain/dubious" countries can get their technology from Russia which has extensive research in the area. And France isn't exactly technology-impaired.

What's left are countries like North Korea, Cuba, Ecuador, and terrorists. Yet NK and other former allies or protectorates of the Soviet Union have access to rocket technology already, even SS-xx (SCUDs). These countries also in many cases don't have many to sell these weapons to, which makes those who doesn't have them already quite happy. I.e., they flock.

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[account_deleted]

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Don't piss this guy off in a parking lot.

[cjwl]

"I like your flame job ... I'm just gonna give it a little touch up!"

So...

[HarveyBirdman]

Some people turn violently ill when it comes time to compose a resume!

I've met people like that. It's called "lack of discipline."

So that makes it OK to start building weapons for the highest bidder? Isn't this the sort of thing we bash the big defense companies and governments for?

Oh, but he says, "No terrorists." Great. How extensive a background check will he do on a potential client when a $100 million check from oil money is waved under his nose? Will he build one if it means his daughter's head does not get chopped off?

I'm just speculatin' is all. Just pondering.

Cruise missiles are boring anyway. I want to be a freelance mechabot designer.

Re:So...

[-noefordeg-]

I bet he'll use the same standards which US/Britain/Germany/Russia use when they 'screen out' their potential weapon buyers, or buyers for nuclear technology..... Because Iran, North Korea, Iraq and other nations didn't buy any such equipment from 'us'?

It seems to work since no western made weapons have ever been used to harm innocent people or supress a nation..... I'm sure of it. Yes. Absolutely positive.

So what you are saying is that it's not ok for one person to just sell to the highest bidder or to whomever best suits your political view at the moment, but for nations is all fine and dandy?

Re:So...

[HarveyBirdman]

So what you are saying is that it's not ok for one person to just sell to the highest bidder or to whomever best suits your political view at the moment, but for nations is all fine and dandy?

That is so far from what I said, I hope you aren't out of the first grade, because that's about where your reading comprehension skills are.

I *said* isn't this the sort of thing we bash GOVERNMENTS for. I *said* it's not a good thing.

I was comparing him to any government or big defense company. *I* was asking some posters why is it bad for governments and defense coimpanies, but not bad for this guy.

Was it really that difficult to figure out?

No. That's some bugfuck strawman you made up because you cannot read.

Re:So...

[CmdrGravy]

Who says it's "bad" ? It's obviously not bad for all us countries, governments and companies who are making money out of it is it ?

If he can make a million dollars out of it then I would imagine that it would hard for him to see that as being a bad thing.

You might think it's a bad thing which is fine, just don't get into the arms trade yourself.

Re:So...

[CmdrGravy]

So are a lot of people, particulary when they are organised into Governments, Companies etc but what's so bad about being amoral ?

If someone offered you 100 million dollars to tell them how to build a Cruise Missile ( assuming you could build one ) are you saying you would turn the offer down ? Think how much "good" you could do with all that money.

No

[autopr0n]

The moral is: when you build a giant cannon, don't point it at Isreal.

(Government assasinations are actualy illegal in the US, and there was no real risk to us. We all know what Isreal's policy on assasination is)

Re:No

[Medievalist]

Well, the US policy on government assassinations is a bit more complex than that. See this for a brief overview.

Since Reagan the interpretation has apparently been "it's not an assassination if you use really big weapons to assure maximum collateral damage".

Re:No

[Scrameustache]

The moral is: when you build a giant cannon, don't point it at Isreal.

Yeah, gotta admit, the mossad is more probable than the CIA in this case. Saddam was friendly to the former in the 80's...

Government assasinations are actualy illegal in the US, and there was no real risk to us.

Well it was outside the U.S., and, it wouldn't be the first illegal thing a government did... but I agree: Mossad.

Re:No

[shlaf_2]

it is ISRAEL, not ISREAL, for God's sake!!! As a side note, we're all much safe after Israel's Mossad eliminated the possibility of Saddam to have that weapon system (if indeed it was Mossad -- no proof, no quilt). And don't forget that it was Israel who bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor.

One question is why?

[Felinoid]

Just to have fun and be diffrent I thought I'd suggest a compleatly diffrent conspericy theroy than the "inventer found dead" conspericys (Very much standard operating procedure for the CIA)

Problem: Need body guard against harrasing girlfriend. Can't afford it.
Solution: "Hay everyone I'm building a cruse missle". Now mistereous MiBs are around every corner. Stay away from metal shops and electronics stores.

The main deal is he needs someone to help and I think he'll reject all offers.

I mean this one has "Watch me please" writen all over it.
The problem is that the CIA may just go with standard operating procedure rather than watch this guy.
OPS

What a tool

[autopr0n]

IIRC, this guy was busted for tax evasion, rather then building his 'missle' which was hardly more then a remote-control plane.

Only stupid people would want to do it

[radtea]

There's a novel by Donald Kingsbury, The Moon Goddess and the Son (IIRC) from the mid 80's that describes the construction of a DIY cruise missile. It was plausible then (albiet by renegade MIT students) and even moreso now.

The only curious thing is that no one has yet done it. The only reasonable conclusion is that everyone who can do it, except for this clown in New Zealand, has the good sense not to want to.

--Tom

How fast..

[segfault_0]

The fact of the matter is more likely that most people wouldnt want such a loose cannon working for their respectable firm. If you were an aerospace firm would you want the guy who just pissed the government off working for you, ensuring that you lose contracts etc.? Not likely. Perhaps he should of thought twice before he did something that would obviously piss off the powers that be (aka biting the hand that fed him), regardless of how right or wrong it may be (in the utopian fantasia where it doesnt matter if everyone can build a cruise missle).

Re:How fast..

[0x0d0a]

And yet, don't you find it frusterating that blunt honesty is so harshly repaid?

Re:How fast..

[Hank Reardon]

And yet, don't you find it frusterating that blunt honesty is so harshly repaid?

In a word, yes. I've lost many a job because I was completely honest about how screwed up the current systems are, what security holes exist, how bad passwords are, and what to do to fix the various problems.

Unfortunately, 99% of the populace doesn't want to hear that things are messed up, but can be fixed.

Re:How fast..

[dave1791]

"blunt honesty" is overrated. You can be honest without being overly blunt. Blunt people tend to be ineffective in teams because they piss people off; causing personal issiues cloud cloud the problem at hand. My mother-in-law is the bluntest person I have ever met. Her "refreshing honesty" has been rewarded with problems with her kids and legal troubles with the neighbors. By contrast, by wife recently saved a project after she realized that the personell resource allocation was all fscked up; not by being blunt and pissing people off, but by being so smooth that everybody on the team thought the fiy was their own idea.

Re:How fast..

[segfault_0]

Not really, in any relationship - parent to child, boyfriend to girlfriend, husband to wife, employer to employee - there are always some lines that you dont cross in order to maintain the relationship. This shows what happens when you cross those lines - you arent required not to cross them, but when you need things from other people you should really avoid it. Call it common sense or even common decency.

The real issue isnt honesty here anyhow, its responsibility, which this man obviously thought he wasnt required to deal with.

Idiot

[codewritinfool]

This guy is an idiot. You're telling me his whole source of income prior to being shut down was designing cruise missiles?

Now he's willing to offer his services to the highest bidder, but he won't "knowingly" work for a terrorist organization? Who's he kidding?

Ten bucks says that if this guy looks like he might be hired somewhere that he disappears. Like Hoffa.

He put himself into this mess.

Re:Idiot

[Codebender]

His previous income was from aerospace projects in general, and he built a cruise missile to prove to his government that it could be done by a private party, when they would not listen to him. Now he's completely locked out of the aerospace industry in NZ, so he's given up on helping the gov. and looking to move out.

So you're saying he was an idiot for being patriotic and attempting to help secure his own country against terrorism? I'd say they are the idiots for not listeneing to him.

If he had a public e-mail address up, I would PayPal him a few bucks just because I think he got royally shafted. I'm going to try anyway, actually.

Re:Idiot

[stimpleton]

This guy is an idiot. You're telling me his whole source of income prior to being shut down was designing cruise missiles?

No.
His previous income was building 7am.com from scratch.
He then sold it for handsome profit back the dot com days.
Under his own admission, he didn't pay the tax he should have, but was paying it off over installments. It was several hundred thousand I believe.
When it came to applying for funding from the government for another project, the Inland Revenue called in the debt in a lump sum. He couldn't pay so they filed for bankruptcy.
The missile was a hobby that he is now turning too for actual income.

Re:Idiot

[ganhawk]

EXACTLY! This guy does not seem to care for anything.

I won't question your politics or religious beliefs. I simply ask that you provide me with travel to your location plus safe, warm, comfortable accommodation for the duration of the project, and employ me at an agreed rate for my services.

No one seems to care that although this guy can make numerous things with his skill, seems bent on making cruise missles even if it can be used to harm others.

Oh well! this is Slashdot.

Re:Idiot

[NewtonsLaw]

His previous income was building 7am.com from scratch. He then sold it for handsome profit back the dot com days

Not quite correct. I sold 7am.com for NZ$200K -- which is hardly a "handsome profit" on the three years of 18 hour days, 7 days a week it took to build it up to the world's most widely syndicated web-based news service (which it was when I sold it).

If you watch the video clip you'll see that I was offered $1m for 7am.com but turned it down because I wanted to keep the operation (and jobs/income) in New Zealand. I'm not a "money-centric" guy and it was more important to me that 7am.com didn't just disappear off to the USA because, at the time, it was this country's most highly traffiked and successful internet venture.

Under his own admission, he didn't pay the tax he should have, but was paying it off over installments. It was several hundred thousand I believe

Again, not quite correct.

I at the time I was bankrupted, I had paid *all* the tax I owed and was well on the way to settling the bill for penalties and interest that had been lumped on top. It's also worth noting that my bankruptcy was a breach NZ tax law and (as verified by an Ernst Young tax expert) I was actually entitled to have the penalties and interest waived.

When it came to applying for funding from the government for another project, the Inland Revenue called in the debt in a lump sum

Wrong again. I applied for and had approved, a $36K government-funded grant to help with the development of my jet engine technology. I *did not* uplift this grant, prefering instead to use my own money because I knew there was significant risk associated with the success of the R&D I was undertaking and felt that money would be better spent on health or education.

The IRD's "calling in a debt" had nothing to do with the grant -- except that if I *had* taken the grant, I would have been able to pay most of the penalties and interest with it -- but the government doesn't run a ledger so I got no credit for not uplifting the $36K they offered me.

He couldn't pay so they filed for bankruptcy

Wrong again -- I could pay, I was paying (I made a $20K payment just weeks before the IRD moved to bankrupt me and was just 9-12 months from settling the entire balance.

It is this move on the part of the IRD that makes the whole situation smell. Why would they (after happily accepting my regular payments for some time, and I never missed a payment) suddenly call in the debt just a few months short of full repayment?

Did it look as if I would default? No, I had just paid them a significant percentage of the outstanding amount in a lump sum and had just signed a deal which guaranteed I'd be receiving many times the amount of the debt in just a few short months.

The only reason anyone can come up with is that this wasn't about recovering a debt -- it was about stopping my embarrassing cruise-missile project.

The missile was a hobby that he is now turning too for actual income.

Wrong again. The missile project was an attempt to wake people up to the fact that, as homeland defense becomes increasingly effective, terrorists could well turn to their own hi-tech weapons, and that those weapons could be built in a garage.

Am I selling missiles now? No, I'm simply selling my skills and experience -- just like everyone does when they're looking for a job.

Good Article. Wikipedia?

[molo]

Thanks for this explanation. Please consider contributing this to Wikipedia (when its up, i'm getting blank pages now).

-molo

Is he really for hire?

[xixax]

If this guy has trouble finding accommodations, maybe he can share rooms with all the agents that will be tailing him.

The press release sounds as likely to be a resounding "Fuck You" to the NZ authorities. Maybe he is intending that they spend more money on surveilling him than it would have cost to keep him safely at home where he could play under careful supervision. Is this his opening bid?

Xix.

Re:Is he really for hire?

[ultranova]

The press release sounds as likely to be a resounding "Fuck You" to the NZ authorities.

Actually, this whole thing sounds like a diversion. "Hey, look at me, I'm developing nasty weapons for nasty people ! Catch me if you can !" And while they are chasing him, someone else will do the actual developing.

It's the classic move of throwing a small rock to distract the guards so you can slip by them.

How about "he's an incompetent nutjob"?

[Noose For A Neck]

This guy is a computer hardware engineer. Anyone who thinks he could design and construct anything resembling a militarily-viable cruise missle by himself is either way out of their depth or just plain dumb.

Seeing as he hasn't actually constructed anything, but rather just released vague plans on the internet, I think that rather bolsters my case that this guy is just another net.kook.

Re:How about "he's an incompetent nutjob"?

[pyite]

Way to be naive as all hell. Obviously, you've never participated in an engineering program at a degree granting institution. Engineering majors are not all that different. Engineering is more about learning how to approach and solve problems than develop a particular skillset. There are many, many, people with engineering degrees that constantly cross field boundaries.

Donations

[Codebender]

I've been following Bruce's story for a while, and I just wish I could afford to have him build me something. I don't have an (big, evil) S.U.V., but I'd love to have a missile on my car. Perhaps a jet-powered motorcycle...

Anyway, if you're like me and you can drop a few dollars without ever missing it, here's the donations page:

http://aardvark.co.nz/pjet/donations.shtml

Re:Donations

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't have an (big, evil) S.U.V., but I'd love to have a missile on my car.

Intersting ??
I can imagine adozen slashdot admins in thier basements stroking their handlrbar moustach...Interesting...Very Interesting

I'll tell you what

[koan]

you still have to arm the thing to be a terrorist and as near as I can tell that's the hard part...not building the delivery system.

its pitifully easy

[rebelcool]

to make a truck-sized nuke. The one dropped on hiroshima was a gun type. Basically take a big piece of uranium and cut a wedge in it. Then take a matching wedge piece and mount it in a tube in front of high explosives. Detonate. When the two meet, assuming their combined mass is of the critical type, you have yourself a hiroshima sized explosion.

The hard part is of course, getting the enriched uranium necessary. You'd need a bit of specialized know-how in safely machining it as well, and of course, the proper amount you'd need to achieve critical mass. The last couple bits any nuclear physics student could tell you.

Re:Greatest Trick the Devil Pulled

[mcpkaaos]

I'm sorry -- I'm really not a troll, I swear -- but what the fuck did ANY of that mean?

A word from Bruce Simpson

[NewtonsLaw]

I'm Bruce Simpson, the subject of this discussion and I'd like to address some of the comments and points that have been raised here.

Question: If I'm so damned clever, why don't I have a job?
Answer:
Well, I'm 50 years old, which (even here in NZ) is past the age when it becomes difficult to just walk into a any job because, regardless of your qualifications there's always someone younger who's standing in line ahead of you.

What's more, although I have a lot of experience in a wide number of a synergistic (from a missile building persective) nature, there are plenty of people around who know more and are better at these individual fields than I am.

If an employer is looking for a good programmer, a good electronics design engineer, a good airframe designer, or a good engineer, there are plenty better than me.

My strength is that I have sufficient depth of knowledge and skill in each area to bring a very broad perspective to bear on the particular problems associated with the job of designing and building a cheap cruise missile (or UAV). In effect, I can do the job of four or five people with more efficiency and insight than such a team might.

When I have an idea, I can bring all my different areas of competence to bear on it and produce a result in a fraction the time it takes for a team of several individuals to do the same.

The problem is, there are no companies in NZ looking for this synergy of skills.

Unfortunately, this country has little or no interest in things military -- hell, the first thing the current government did when it gained power was to pretty much gut our air force by disbanding its air-defense capabilies.

This saw all our best avionics engineers, Air Force pilots and maintenance people disappear to greener pastures.

In fact, our Air Force is so run down that even its transport aircraft now break down with regular monotony. Any government that believes that an air capability is an unimportant part of defense is crazy.

As a result of this "head in the sand" attitide, Australia and the USA are both pretty pissed off with New Zealand because it can no longer pull its full weight in ANZUS, the alliance between the three parties.

But back to jobs. The town I live in is a small rural center which is largely supported by a timber mill. In recent times there have been a number of lay-offs at that mill and unemployment levels are quite high here. The reality is that not only are their *no* jobs for hi-tech workers but I couldn't even get a job flipping burgers at McDonalds due to the queue of applicants ahead of me.

Question: why not move to a bigger city?
Answer:
Well that's pretty hard to do when you're living hand-to-mouth without any money to spare. Moving is an *expensive* operation and rents in the big cities are typically three or four times that of the smaller centers. It simply wouldn't be possible for me to move without having several thousand dollars in my pocket to cover the move, rent and other costs until that first pay check came in (assuming that I could even then find a job).

I could support myself however, if I were allowed to remain self-employed -- but that's not possible due to the restrictions placed on my activities by the government.

Question: won't I be killed by Mossad/CIA/whatever?
Answer:
I doubt it -- but if I am, at least my wife gets to claim on my life-insurance policy :-)

In the past few weeks, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong so there have been times when I have to admit that I simply wouldn't care if I became the target of some hitman -- yeah, it's really been that bad!

But seriously, I don't think anyone will try to rub me out (even though a couple of alleged Mossad members were arrested here in NZ for trying to fraudulently obtain an NZ passport).

Question: why don't I get a job with a big aerospace company?
Answer:

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[NewtonsLaw]

No, I didn't say that Israel was a terrorist nation, I simply said I wouldn't accept offers from that country.

I don't like the way Israel (or Palestians) have conducted themselves in that part of the world and would therefore not like to be party to that type of eye-for-an-eye kind of stupidity.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[sould]

hat New Zealand doesn't pull it's weight in the ANZUS alliance. Give me proof, ANY proof, that we spend less on defense PER CAPITA than the majority

From nation master's Military: Expenditures - dollar figure (per capita) page.

No 3: United States $953.01 per person
No 14. Australia $577.23 per person
No 39. New Zealand $153.29 per person

Frankly tho' (speaking as an australian) you should be proud that your country spends so little on its military.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[Kafka_Canada]

Question: how do you know you wouldn't be working for terrorists?
Answer:
Ultimately there's no way to know. Hell there are some who allege that Bush is a terrorist and plenty who'd agree with them (although I'd prefer to remain on the fence over that one).

You have a rather strange (and extreme) take on terrorism. Sure, a few loonies call Bush the "real terrorist" (I see that a fair bit on T-shirts here in Montreal, Canada), but for an enlightened person to take that few come off as, as I said, extreme.

To some degree I feel right now as if my own government are little better than a bunch of terrorists anyway.

Admittedly they're (NZ) de-militarizing and thus aiding terrorism, but it's again a bit of a stretch to call the New Zealand government terrorists.

Naturally I would not be accepting direct offers from Al Qaeda, Israel or the PLA -- but the reality is that there are few nations who can honestly say they've never committed a terrorist act anyway.

Huh?! Sorry, but Israel's not some terrorist fly-by-night like Al Qaeda or the PLO, they're a modern, democratic state that's at the vanguard of the fight against terrorism. Hell, Israel's probably done more to combat terrorism (and killed more terrorists) than all other nation-states combined.

Great job on the tech. side of things, but politically, get a grip on reality, man.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[NewtonsLaw]

You say you are all that patriotic but you are bankrupt because you did not pay your taxes!

That is actually wrong.

I paid every cent of the tax I owed (in fact I over-paid). I was bankrupted over a huge sum of penalties and interest that (under NZ law, and as verified by an Ernst Young tax expert), should have been waived.

However, I was repaying even these penalties (I paid a lump sum of $20,000 just weeks before the bankruptcy) and if (like most other taxpayer) I'd been alowed to continue with these repayments, the debt would have been cleared completely within 9-12 months.

In effect, the government/tax-ma refusedto let me pay those interests and penalties -- why would they do that?

DO you realize that your work is going to kill thousands of innocent people

Where's your support for that argument?

And you seem to have a very short memory (or didn't attend history classes at school).

Just think back to August 6 and 9 of 1945.

As I said, there is probably no country on the face of the planet which hasn't engaged in some form of terrorism (defined as the killing of innocent men, women and children in the name of a cause).

As I've stated -- I'd much rather focus on civilian applications for RPV/UAV technologies and there are plenty of them. I'm hoping that if someone does want my services, this is what they'll be concentrating on.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Have you considered seeking employment with one of the companies that is trying to commercialize small-scale space-flight? It sounds like your skills as a generalist in a relatively similar field would be very useful to such companies seeing as how they are mostly all small start-ups, the dotcoms of space-flight before the market took off. Such companies need people who can wear many different hats as well as keep "the big picture" in their head so as to identify unexpected interactions and possible synergies across fields.

There is probably lots of competition since the X-Prize has made them relatively famous recently, but you do have a little more street cred than most.

PS - Don't waste your time responding the people freaking about your views on terrorism, some people just can't stand it that someone might question their own passionately held beliefs and feel that they must make you look at their own personal trees to make you ignore the forest.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[Anonymous Coward]

I apologize for going AC on this, but I need a clearance for my job, and am naturally concerned about retaliation for my views.

Israel is undoubtedly the lead cause of terrorism out there (they create terrorists far faster then they kill them). They are an nation kept in existance by the US in pursuit of fundamentalist Christian goals. They actually segment their populace based on what religion you are in, and it sure isn't seperate but equal. Is that your view of a modern, democratic state?

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[killjoe]

Define terrorism so that israel does not fit the definition.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[NewtonsLaw]

If you're 50 years old, then you're old enough that you should have known better than to pull a stunt like this in the first place

Well excuse me for trying to bring a quite real threat to the public's attention.

I initially attempted to do this with this article but, although I received some feedback, it clearly wasn't reaching a large audience.

That article also produced a lot of people who claimed it couldn't be done and that I was full of hot air -- so the only way to prove my case and to properly inform the public of this threat was to go ahead and do what I said any terror group could do.

You call it a "stunt", I call it proving my case.

Read into this; now that you've pissed off the USA, which is providing a big chunk of your nation's security

But why are they pissed off?

Before I started the project I emailed the FBI and DARAP to tell them what I was planning and why. I also invited them to make any comments they might have and offered them full access to the results of my work.

What did I get in return -- an automated reply from the FBI thanking me for my email and nothing at all from DARPA.

Based on that response, it's pretty natural to think that those organizations in the US charged with the security of the nation didn't have a problem with my project. Surely they'd be smart enough to simply say "we'd really rather you didn't do this" -- but no such response was forthcoming.

Then, when the project serves its goal of raising public awareness, they get all snotty -- is that my fault?

Perhaps they're simply embarrassed now that it's clear they have no answer to such a threat -- which was the entire point of my argument. The only weapon against an LCCM is public awareness.

I hate to say this, but it sounds as if you really did this to yourself

Maybe I did -- but I'm not completely stupid and I have leared lessons from this:

1. Do not take a patriotic stance and contact the Secret Service when information possibly from a sponsor of terror comes into your possession.

2. Do not actively cooperate with the secret service and help them to obtain more information.

3. If the government gives you clearance to sell technology with a military application to a nation deemed to be a sponsor of terror, do not question this -- simply go ahead with the transanction.

4. Do not put the interests of your country (overseas investment, new jobs, export earnings, a valuable foothold in an explosive new industry) ahead of your own. Think only of your own bank balance in all transactions.

5. Do not turn down offers of money from the government as they will not thank you or even consider that by not accepting that money you are in effect in credit to that amount.

6. Do not trust the government to act ethically, moraly or even legally when they wish to achieve some end.

7. Do not work your ass off and sell your house to pay a tax debt while being fooled into believing that regular and reliable servicing such a debt to the point where it is almost completely repaid will stop the taxman from bankrupting you for no apparent reason.

Unfortunately I feel very sad that these are the lessons I have learned.

Sure, I'm not without fault -- I should have filed my returns and paid all my tax right on time.

But the overal lesson here is that it's pointless trying to remedy such a transgression -- if you ever find yourself behind in your taxes (and you've got a missile in your garage) simply sell all your assets, take a really good holiday then come back and file for bankruptcy.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[Moofie]

You mean proud that other nations are picking up your slack and defending you?

Okay. That's one way to look at the situation. A pretty morally bankrupt one, but hey! I'm just a mean ol' American.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[che.kai-jei]

erm israel is terrorist state that assasinates so called militant leaders via rocket attacks in the street killing innocent bystanders and bulldozing the homes of civillians for land usurpers. you get a grip!

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[NoMaster]

Admittedly they're (NZ) de-militarizing and thus aiding terrorism...

You, my friend, have a very fucked-up view of this thing called "terrorism". Must come from that "you're either with us, or against us" crap your leader spouts all the time...

It's not something new, invented one September 11 a couple of years back, to scare Americans. In one form or another, it's been going on for hundreds if not thousands of years. Most recently, well before 11/09/2001, it's been used in Great Britain, Ireland, Spain, Israel, Jordan, Indonesia, Russia, Egypt, Germany ... hell, you could even include the Rainbow Warrior sinking in Aukland, NZ, and the Hilton Hotel bombing in Sydney, Australia, in your list of terrorist incidents / actions.

Sit down, clear your mind, have a cuppa, and think about the word "terrorism", and how terrorism works. To get you started, I'll tell you this : it works by creating fear, aka "terror", out of all proportion to its actions.

Like killing just 3000 people, and getting a country of 220+ million so shit-scared that they're almost prepared to destroy everything they claim to stand for in order to protect themselves from what, so far, has proved to be a one-off event...

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[pmfp]

Title 22 of the US Code, Section 2656f(d):

The term 'terrorism' means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[mooglez]

how does this not apply? it's a weekly event on news, here in europe to hear about israel responding to a death of one of their soldiers, with a missile strike on civilian targets on the palestinian side. (politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by clandestine agents)

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[pmfp]

Except for the occasional bad guy, the difference is in targetting. The terrorists specifically aim for noncombatants, the Israelies do not. The difficulty of asserting who's who and the following mistakes are inevitable, but it's a question of concentrated effort. It's strategically unsound to do anything by half measures. If the Israeli military just wanted to kill all Palestinians this would have been over a long time ago, but it's still ongoing.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[loic_2003]

The fact of the matter is, a low cost cruise missile with a payload of anthrax or whatever could easily be made using off-the-shelf components of model aircraft (you can even buy model turbine jet engines). Bruce here is simply showing that it is possible to do so.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[mattr]

You need a major rethink. Right now you are your own worst enemy since you have demonstrated to all potential customers that you are in a fragile, undependable state.

It seems ironic that your situation seems so similar to one ordinary programmers can fall into, I suppose you just replace outsouring to India with peaceniks in charge, and you get similar results?

Your whining has had another effect. Now a lot of people are thinking maybe you might be a target of some secret service. I think in your situation you should worry more about your neighbors, but then maybe nobody in your town knows what your business is yet? You are trying to put your talents into lowering the bar so that more people can have weapons against which there is no defense. Isn't it about time to put your own ego aside and ask yourself whether this is a worthy thing to do? I have never heard of freelance weapons manufacturers with the disruptive technology and immaturity you display. Really you take the cake.

It seems clear that you live in a peaceful country that unfortunately has allowed to train yourself into such a dangerous man and left you to cause trouble. There is no intrinsic reason why you must create tools that are meant to kill people in order to support a family in such an inexpensive economy. The only reason you have gone this far is that you can only think about yourself and also of course have hardly anything in the way of ethics. Otherwise I don't think you could suggest that you might be making cruise missiles for a terrorist organization, or that you would be comparing such an organization to democratic governments.

I also feel your juxtaposition of unrelated historic events to your own situation has zero semantic content. You mention atomic bombings by the U.S. without mentioning they were to end a world war started by a sneak attack, and suggest some kind of evil measures taken by Israel but do not say this was to defend against a host of countries that want to extermintate it (even to the point of writing it into the constitution, and don't forget this is also the homeland of a people scattered throughout the world and half exterminated in WWII already). Your take on history is not very interesting, but your attempt to use this kindergarten viewpoint to justify your pursuit of the most dangerous cheap weapon you can imagine is not only ethically, logically and philosophically bankrupt, it also just comes off as really silly.

I suppose you aren't really that dangerous, since you could be easily picked off later by somebody, unless perhaps you chose to educate some real terrorists over the net maybe.

I would like to honestly suggest a few things to you, just because I am simultaneously repulsed by your attitude, respectful of your apparent hacker ability, and slightly sympathetic since superficially you remind me of myself some years ago when I made myself a slave for six months for an untrustworthy friend on a software job that I didn't need to do. Of course once I got out of the job I made in the next month twice what I made in the previous half a year and the light started to dawn.

So, here are the options I can see.
1. As you mentioned, you can die somehow and maybe your wife will get the money, dunno about that. Publishing on the net would probably be a quick way to buy it, but it doesn't suggest she would get big bucks for it since you would I suppose be a traitor.
2. You can continue to starve and try to get a job building missiles. Good luck, not. I think you have a 97% chance of not finding an employer.
3. You can retire and live off your wife's income (she goes to work). Maybe you teach physics in a highschool or college somewhere. Personally I think that would give you too much free time to make trouble.
4. You take this opportunity to look back on your life, think about what is really important. Maybe you even realize the world does not need a DIY cruise missile. About this time you start thinking about what else you might get involved in.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[antirename]

So was this the goal to prove that YOU could do it, or prove how easy it was? Just curious.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[antirename]

What he did is not technically all that complicated. Ok, you aim wrong with the soldering iron, and burn ten bucks in components. Big deal. It's a systems integration problem, other than the pulsejet (which is well documented in it's own right). I really doubt anyone would put a hole in his head since you can just google for the required components.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[killjoe]

"Except for the occasional bad guy, the difference is in targetting. The terrorists specifically aim for noncombatants, the Israelies do not."

Fist of all I am not convinced that the israelis don't target civillians. It is indisputable that they target media outlets (TV stations and newspapers) which are civillian and they target journalists which are also civilillian.

Secondly I submit that there is no appreciable difference between launching a bomb into a crowded city because you don't want to risk sending your soldiers there and setting off a suicide bomb on a bus. You know civillians will get killed but you don't care because it's better to kill palestenians civilians then to risk the death of israeli solders.

Also I am sure that if the palestenians had helicopters, missiles, fighter jets, and tank they would be using them instead of suicide bombers. Sometimes you have to make do with what you have in order to win back your freedom.

Finally. The act of keeping 3.5 million people under occupation (in essense keeping them as domesticated animals) is terrorism at the highest level. Of course the CIA is never going to define it that way but common sense and decency ought to. Apartheid is evil and terrorism. Israel is a terroris state simply because it occupies millions of people.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[Moofie]

The Iraqis were no threat, and I oppose that war.

Let's see how you feel about China in 20 years.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[pmfp]

I am sure they use any weapon in their arsenal. I also read history and know of the many peace deals they have broken. Why? Because they don't want to get back to the original UN lines, they want Israel exterminated, for they will always be occupied otherwise.

E.g...
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SR3004
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD74104

It's not all cream and sugar, or as somebody else put it a few months ago:
"Anyone here currently in Israel have all the details about the young palestinian girl who turned herself in to the authorities recently? I remember something about how she was raped and told that unless she went on a suicide bombing mission, her family would be told she was no longer a virgin - and thus disgrace her family and herself. However, she was told, die in this bombing and you will be a martyr and your family would never have to know.
Those are not the tactics of freedom fighters fighting for 'water rights.' Those are the tactics of terrorists."

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[killjoe]

"I am sure they use any weapon in their arsenal. I also read history and know of the many peace deals they have broken. Why? Because they don't want to get back to the original UN lines"

Neither does Israel. Both Israel and palestine see each other as abominations under god to be destroyed. Just as many prominent palestenians have called for getting rid of all jews many members of the israel knesset have called for genocide of palestenians. Imagine a US senator calling for extermination of indians or arabs or anybody for that matter. It would never happen in the US because we are a civilized country.

"Those are not the tactics of freedom fighters fighting for 'water rights.' Those are the tactics of terrorists.""

They are the act of desparate people driven to do desparate things due to brutal, cruel and inhuman treatment by israel. You have to put things into perspective here. It's not like Israel doesn't rape and torture palestenians. They have tortured tens of thousands of people in the last couple of decades. I recently read an article in the atlantic in which an israeli torturer described some of the things they did to palestenians and I got sick to my stomach just reading about them.

If the US was invaded by israel and kept under occupation I would do anything to gain back my freedom. Yes that would include suicide bombing, targetting civillians, or just about anything else imaginable.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[ross.w]

Imagine a US senator calling for extermination of indians or arabs or anybody for that matter. It would never happen in the US because we are a civilized country.

You've obviously forgotten about the 19th Century US Cavalry.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[killjoe]

":Brilliant, you just justified EVERY Israeli action against the Palestinians."

Israel does not need justification. Their God tells them that the land belongs to them and that's all the justification they need. The lives and hopes of the palestenians don't matter when the wishes of God need to be fulfilled.

"But hey, let's all Blame Israel for all problems, it's alot easier that way then to assume Arab states contributed in any way to the problem."

I don't blame israel for all the problems I blame them for some of the problems. The arabs are also to blame. There is really not that much of a difference between the two really. they are both listening to their god who tells them that their enemies should be killed and their land should be taken. These savages (israelis and the palestenians) have managed to turn the birthplace of jesus into a hate filled bloodbath and perpetual war, torture, cruelty and suffering.

As far as I am concerned we should go in there and kick out the lot of them. Get rid of the israelis and disperse them all over the earth, get rid of the palestenians and disperse them all over arabia. Let's just turn the entire country of israel and palestine into a world heritage park and preserve the land for eternity as the birth place of the three major religions. People can visit but they can't stay. that land is too historically precious to be left in the hand of savage evil people who think that they can justify their murderous ways by blaming somebody else and saying "they did it first".

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[ganhawk]

"It is my hope that if an offer were made to me, it would come from a country that was more interested in the production of UAVs/RPVs for civilian and non-agressive military use (things such as border patrols, search and rescue craft, target drones, etc)."

I hope you find someone soon to sponsor your project to build an UAV than a cruise missile. Your best bet would be to find an independent investor than pursuing working for countries as it raises too many political objections.
It is quite unfortunate that your project with the US areospace company was cancelled. I still dont understand why bankruptcy should be one of the clauses of the contract.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[pmfp]

Neither does Israel. Both Israel and palestine see each other as abominations under god to be destroyed. Just as many prominent palestenians have called for getting rid of all jews many members of the israel knesset have called for genocide of palestenians.

Far from all Israelies are on the extreme right wing. Their voices are however heard when discussion about withdrawing from the West Bank is brought up.

Imagine a US senator calling for extermination of indians or arabs or anybody for that matter. It would never happen in the US because we are a civilized country.

It doesn't happen because you don't have the threat to warrant that. I do not say that anybody should exterminate the Palestinians, but that you would hear calls for a far more aggressive actions if more major than 9/11 happened, such as a nuclear blast or a high level of suicide attacks. In the same way as in Israel, not from everybody, but from someone or some people.

They are the act of desparate people driven to do desparate things due to brutal, cruel and inhuman treatment by israel.

You should read up on the religion and foreign studies. Israel and the US are not alone in being threatened, and Spain was not targeted just because they had troops in Iraq. Islamic fundamentalists want to get rid of everybody who doesn't turn to Mecca. You could try telling FRANCE otherwise.
The Israel-Palestina conflict is just one exit hole for that rage.

It's not like Israel doesn't rape and torture palestenians. They have tortured tens of thousands of people in the last couple of decades.

I am sure they have tortured people in the past, which country hasn't? To explain the width of it is currently beyond my knowledge, and I doubt you have the contacts to find out, except for somebody just telling "it's so". As for raping, systematic or not? ALL groups have their 10%, whether we're talking religious, politic, sports or other. The difference is if it's ordered from above. That's not to say that a widespread epidemic shouldn't be stopped anyway, but I've never even through the normal information channels heard reports of widespread rape. Isolated instances does not appear to be comon. Verify your claims by multiple sources with evidence of those actions.

I recently read an article in the atlantic in which an israeli torturer described some of the things they did to palestenians and I got sick to my stomach just reading about them.

I just checked out the Atlantic... seems like a very independent source you got there. Why not ask Michael Moore directly? :-/

This is getting nowhere and I've got other things to do. Take care, I won't be available for responses.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[Kadmos]

In fact, our Air Force is so run down that even its transport aircraft now break down with regular monotony. Any government that believes that an air capability is an unimportant part of defense is crazy.

As a result of this "head in the sand" attitide, Australia and the USA are both pretty pissed off with New Zealand because it can no longer pull its full weight in ANZUS, the alliance between the three parties.

Aus is pissed off? No way, we just expect you to get stuck in when we get invaded ala "Tomorrow, When the War Began")

For the mods and other people who don't get jokes: Tomorrow, when the War began is a well known fiction book (in Aus at least) where Aus gets invaded (by an un-named foe) and NZ helps out (before they get whacked too).

Seriously though I think NZ has a much more insightful govt than Aus.
Ways in which NZ rocks:
1. Won't let USA's nuclear powered warships into harbour, way to stand up for what you believe in.
2. Has a much better relationship with Maori's than OZ has with Aboriginies
3. Doesn't kiss G W Bush's ass.

In any case, if the Aus govt really starts to give you grief, give them the finger and the Aus public will love you for it :-)

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[sould]

Perhaps the new zealanders don't need such a large military budget as they don't pursue wars of agression against countries that pose no threat to them?

Lucky buggers, I wish my government had the sort of balls Helen Clark does.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[Moofie]

Look, the war in Iraq is bad policy. But that was neither the beginning, nor will it be the end, of the dangerous world we live in.

Seriously...do you really think China wouldn't be thrilled to capture Australia and New Zealand if they thought they could get away with it?

Anybody who thinks that you don't need a strong military to survive on this planet is either a) delusional or b) willing to let America do their dirty work.

Re:A word from Bruce Simpson

[sould]

Seriously...do you really think China wouldn't be thrilled to capture Australia and New Zealand if they thought they could get away with it?

*sigh*

Don't you know that in this part of the world you're supposed to use the Indonesians as the bogeyman?

Using China as the bogeyman is sooooooo 1990's

Anybody who thinks that you don't need a strong military to survive on this planet is either a) delusional or b) willing to let America do their dirty work.

or c) Not pursuing expensive wars of agression against countries that pose no threat to them.

News/Curerent-affairs item on this

[NewtonsLaw]

This will probably kill my server (perhaps someone can throw it on bit-torrent or mirror it) but there's a video clip on my website from a news and current affairs program here in New Zealand that documented my case.

Re:News/Curerent-affairs item on this

[NewtonsLaw]

Dude, this will kill you before it kills your server. So dont worry. And no one is interested in mirroring your acts of terrorism, leading to the future deaths of many innocent people so that you can become famous rich bastard

Clearly you didn't watch the video. Which of my actions do you consider would lead ot the deaths of many innocent people?

1. Contacting the SIS (secret service) with information about suspicious offers made to me?

2. Not taking an offer worth US$100K to sell information to a state considered to be a sponsor of terrorism -- even though the NZ government gave me the okay to do so?

And if my goal was to become a "rich bastard", why did I turn down far more lucrative offers to strike a deal that meant far less money in my pocket but more jobs and export earnings for NZ?

By the way, the most frightening thing about your threats is the fact you can't even spell New Zealand properly :-)

Re:News/Curerent-affairs item on this

[The_reformant]

I think its interesting that there are images called bs01.jp and bs02.jpg on that homepage.

Perhaps you should rename the html file to bs101.html just to make it really obvious.

Oh and if your living hand to mouth your really gonna have a hard time paying for all the bandwidth the posting on slashdot is going to use.

Well, except they aren't

[ishmaelflood]

"Russians are a force to reckon with."

Really? Individual Russians can be very talented, and as engineers, scientists and mathematicians they have a lot to offer. But as a functioning society? A force to be reckoned with? Nyet.

Re:Well, except they aren't

[JohnG]

I think you mean not anymore. Remember the cold war?

Re:Well, except they aren't

[koan]

You must have forgotten what they did in WW2, read your history =)

Re:Well, except they aren't

[ishmaelflood]

Read your grammar book, he wrote 'are', not 'were'. Watch out for the Egyptians, Romans, Poms, etc

Errrrr

[Sycraft-fu]

He wasn't royally screwed by the government. If you read the orignal article (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/09/20525 2&mode=thread&tid=137) you'll notice that the reason he lost all his money was due to having not paid his taxes on time and getting nailed for back taxes. Now, some might argue that the reason the government took an intrest in his back taxes was this project, but that's isn't relivant. He wasn't screwed over, he failed to pay taxes he owed, and the government came for them, plus penalties.

Happened to a firend of mine. He ran a bussiness that made sales, but overall lost money. Thing is, he didn't keep track of and write off expenses. So the IRS noticed the extra income, and nailed him with $2000 in back taxes. Kinda sucks, but ulitmately his fault. You are responsible for your taxes and if you can't figure them out, you need to pay someone to do it for you.

Also, trying to make a point like this to the government is STUPID. While NZ doesn't have much of an intelligence service, other nations who this threat would worry, like Israel, Russia and the US, DO. If they think he seriously will sell missles to terrorists, they'll deal with it, and that may involve a massive cerberal hemmorage induced by a bullet to the back of the head.

Really, I think he's being rather petulant. I understand he's pissed that his dream fell through but ultimately, it's his own fault. Even if you are on the best terms with the govenrment, you need to have your taxes in order. If you are doing something they aren't happy with, you REALLY need to have your taxes in order. Al Capone ultimately went down for tax evasion, not murder or anything like that.

If you shortchange the government, even unwittingly, don't be supprised when they come for their due. Pulling a stunt like this ISN'T the way to change that, it's just a way to get in further shit.

If he was smart, he'd try to find a company to go work for just generally in the areonautics industry. He obviously has skills, and someone would likely hire him. Maybe then he can get the money and facilities to restart his research.

Terrorism will get cheaper

[doc modulo]

As the submitter wrote, this guy is one of the examples of why: "There is no question that cruise missile, UAV, bio-warfare, chemical weapons technology, and probably nuclear technologies will all continue to fall in cost significantly for the foreseeable future."

There are model airplanes with gyroscopic autopilots to buy as well.

Anyway, I think it's better to remove the source of the threat by not creating new terrorists instead of trying to herd every possible terrorist or terror facilitator (like the guy in the story).

It's like what the RIAA MPAA is trying to do with downloaders. Much more efficient to stop it at the relatively small and clear source than at the numerous and hidden end-points.

And guess what the W. Bush government and CIA did? four years ago, the whole of the Netherlands were like: "What the fuck? Why did Americans vote for Bush instead of Gore?" I guess we're missing American news media.

Anyway, original point, things are getting more dangerous and it's better to make sure nobody wants to harm you than to push back the danger. We eventually want world peace to happen don't we?

Re:Terrorism will get cheaper

[kupci]

And guess what the W. Bush government and CIA did? four years ago, the whole of the Netherlands were like: "What the fuck? Why did Americans vote for Bush instead of Gore?" I guess we're missing American news media.

You'd be surprised actually. I recall being out of the country during the Gulf War, out of the zone of what 'reality distortion', and remember wondering what's gotten into the folks back home? All of a sudden Kuwait? When we happily supported Iraq vs. Iran? Reagan with the axis of evil of Grenada and Noriega, the marines blasting speakers at Noriega, almost comical, a farce.

What's happened here is the mainstream media is entirely pro-Bush, from the NYTimes to Fox News, in an almost ridiculous sort of way. There was recently a series called "Homeland Security", usual schlock, but one part was almost like a Bush campaign ad, as a couple snuggled on the couch, holding hands, watching the television reverently as they showed one of Bush's speeches about catching terrorists in Afghanistan. Time used to have big, fawning articles on Bush & Cheney, camera shot from a low angle, Bush striding imperially forward, chin jutting out, on the opposite page a story about Roosevelt or Eisenhower. You get the picture.

Besides, nobody had a clue about Bush. Baseball coach from Texas? Huh? Gore & Lieberman - why is it so hard to come up with good candidates? Anyway, it was the old bait and switch - vote for this simple, genial feller, and he brings in his slew of Mafioso: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Karl Rove, Goebels - now that was the real problem.

Republican revenge for 8 years of Clinton. My how they hated that guy. Still hate 'im.

Anyway, too bad Simpson's not here in the good 'ol U.S. of A. He'd be locked up pronto, what a nutcase. Sure, we're almost a police state here (woe to the tourist who mistakenly photographs a dam or a bridge), but sometimes that's a good thing.

How about you talk about things you actually know?

[Svartalf]

It's obvious you know very little about how things really work- or how friggin' simple most of this stuff is. Just because it's not his field of work, doesn't make it undoable by him- assuming that he's only capable of hardware engineering is beyond arrogant on your part.

A 747 isn't militarily viable as a weapons platform- but yet TWO of the damn things were used by terrorists to trash our country a while back. His engines are viable- and yes, any idiot with a machine shop can build pulse jets and ram jets that are effective enough to carry a payload quite some distance. Add a pre-programmed navigation sequence, a GPS reciever, and a lift surface capable of lifting the whole lot and you've got a cruise missile. Doesn't matter if it's " militarily " viable if a terrorist uses it to deploy sarin, tabun, VX, or a myriad of biological agents over an area or uses it to take out pieces of critical infrastructure.

While I'm not sure he could achieve his $5k price point, I'm pretty sure someone could achieve a $10-15k price point and have something very nasty to play with.

Like I suggest on the title, you might want to talk about things you actually KNOW about instead of guessing about them- you're not very good at it.

oh, just brilliant

[ZorbaTHut]

"Boss, we've found a guy who's able to build a cruise missile out of parts he found in his backyard. What'll we do?"

"Tricky one. I say we throw him out of his house and force him into bankruptcy."

"But won't that just leave him willing to take a job from anyone, even our enemies?"

"BANKRUPTCY!"

"But wouldn't it be better if *we* hired -"

"BANKRUPTCY!"

"But how do we know he won't get hired by, say, Iraq -"

"BANKRUPTCY!"

"Okay, okay, bankruptcy it is."

"Glad you see it my way! You'll go far in this government."

"There's also this story about a little girl and her kitten -"

"BANKRUPTCY!"

----

With intelligence agencies like these, who needs enemies?

Interesting yes, amazing, no

[Registered Coward v2]

From the looks of it, he's building a modern V-1, an dteh tech used is not vastly different from that used in model aircraft. larger scale perhaps, but even taht is questionable when you look at some of the large scale a/c (sucha sthe B-52) modellers have built.

Besides, why build a cruise missile, which requires you stayin in one place and buying a bunch of stuff taht may arouse the interest of teh authorities when you could steal a biz jet, deliver a larger payload, and do the planning in dispersed locations?

Re:Interesting yes, amazing, no

[NewtonsLaw]

From the looks of it, he's building a modern V-1, an dteh tech used is not vastly different from that used in model aircraft. larger scale perhaps, but even taht is questionable when you look at some of the large scale a/c (sucha sthe B-52) modellers have built

This is exactly the point I was trying to make when I embarked on the DIY Cruise Missile project.

It's not rocket science and almost anyone could do it if the set their minds to it.

Besides, why build a cruise missile, which requires you stayin in one place and buying a bunch of stuff taht may arouse the interest of teh authorities when you could steal a biz jet, deliver a larger payload, and do the planning in dispersed locations?

Actually, my other point was that you could build one of these things *without* attrating a lot of attention or rousing the interest of the authorities. There's nothing involved in the construction of an LCCM that would ring alarm bells anywhere.

And your chances of using a hijacked or hired business jet to deliver a payload would seem to be pretty limited if this story is any indicator.

With a flight time of less than 10 minutes to its target and a small radar signature, an LCCM would have a much higher probability of success without the need for martyrdom.

Re:Interesting yes, amazing, no

[NewtonsLaw]

Great you support terrorists ! We shall shoon be visting you. Die you bastard - The CIA

Oh yeah, I tried to raise pubilc awareness of the risk posed by LCCMs and offered detailed information on all my work to both DARPA and the FBI because I support terrorists.

Great logic!

Re:Interesting yes, amazing, no

[Registered Coward v2]

Actually, my other point was that you could build one of these things *without* attrating a lot of attention or rousing the interest of the authorities. There's nothing involved in the construction of an LCCM that would ring alarm bells anywhere.

I'm not sure that is completely true - building a large model airplane (which is essentially what you are doing) is not unlikely to go unnoticed - add to that that it is a stranger doing it , close to what might be an attractive target, just might attract the authorities - especially post 0/11 where formerly unnoticed acts become suspcious.

And your chances of using a hijacked or hired business jet to deliver a payload would seem to be pretty limited if this story is any indicator.

well, given the recent event at Reagan's memorial, it seems there still are some problems with IFF. My point was that there are plenty of ways to deliver an equal payload that require less noticable actions prior to the attack.

With a flight time of less than 10 minutes to its target and a small radar signature, an LCCM would have a much higher probability of success without the need for martyrdom.

How accurate will it be, especially since a test launch is pretty much out of the question? The V-1 basicly hit a random target, and even with a much more sophisticated GPS based guidance system you're still dealing with control system resposne and stability issues.

I'm not saying it isn't possible, but that there are more low-tech ways for a terrorist to attack that are much more probable.

Re:Interesting yes, amazing, no

[roman_mir]

Bruce, how about contacting these people: Scaled and offering them your services as a missile specialist? They have the launch vehicle capable of going 100 km high, but their design will not allow them to accelerate this vehicle to a Low Earth Orbit. Now, if you could build a missile for them and this missile was brought with their launch vehicle 100km up, you could then possibly launch a satellite with your missile.

So Scaled would be able to put small satellites into orbit, I am sure there is market out there for this. BTW., if you guys ever need a programmer (Assembler for Atmel controllers, 86/87, C, C++, Java, J2EE, etc.) I would love to join the team.

Well, good luck!

Re:Interesting yes, amazing, no

[antirename]

So, you made one... cool project. I'm usually for full disclosure, but I wouldn't post the CAD files or technical details. I wouldn't want that on my head. True terrorists will just send someone to school to figure out what happens when a bomb explodes from a UAV compared to what happens when it exploded strapped to a pregnant 29 year old woman. And they don't really care, they will will use both. Thing is, you've started on the path of proving a cheapo cruise missile could be done, and you don't really know who bought those plans. Selling those CAD files is wrong, not really caring who uses them is wrong. You might think that this has no effect, but CAD files would have one. Given your plans, without the CAD files, call it six weeks from production desicions to machine shop and in service. With the CAD files, two days, maybe four if everyone called in sick.

Re:How about you talk about things you actually kn

[Anonymous Coward]

FYI- 9/11 hijackers used 2 757s and 2 767s, there were no 747s involved. The size difference alone between a 747 and a 757/767 let alone fuel carrying capacity would have caused a much bigger disaster if 747s were used.

That'd be my take on the whole thing...

[Svartalf]

It's a telling comment on the US currently when FX produces a movie with one of the truer things said about the whole thing after 9/11- I don't have it verbatim from the movie, but the movie says it all:

That there's chemical plants, electric power plants, and reactors, with horrific results for someone successfully attacking them totally unprotected while we worry about taking a pair of nail clippers away from a little old lady in an airport...

What's wrong with this picture, I ask you?

And, it's not to show ignorant governments as much as it's to show their ignorant populaces that they're much more at risk than they've been led to believe.

Not particularly.

[SvnLyrBrto]

> do you seriously not care that he was building a cannon for
> saddam hussein

Look up the name "Wernher Von Braun" sometime. Probably more than anyone else except JFK, he is responsible for man going to the moon, and much of the space program we take for granted. In fact, the US space program didn't really start to go south, until after we quit relying on Von Braun's rockets, and went with that air-force-addled clusterfuck that is the space shuttle.

Now, for the final Jeopardy answer:

Wernher Von Braun worked for him before moving to America.

cya,
john

Re:Not particularly.

[dave1791]

Babam!

Uncle Adolf!

Wernher Von Braun was an amateur rocketeer in the 20's. After the Nazis came to power, he and others went to work for the government designing miliraty rockets. IIRC- it had something to do with getting aroung artillery restrictions following the Versais Treaty. Of course after the war, the Russians and American divvied up the German rocket scientists.

So the Versais Treaty led to the Peenemunde rocket program led to the Apollo landings. Go Figure.

Re:Not particularly.

[albertoiii]

thanks ive looked up werner von braun and i really dont think he compares to gerald bull. you conviently ignore the fact that bull built weapons for saddam hussein. how exactly do you rationalize that?

Re:Not particularly.

[kamapuaa]

bull built weapons for saddam hussein. how exactly do you rationalize that?

Are you serious? Wernher Von Braun led the design of the V2 vengeance rockets for the Nazis.

At the time, Iraq was the republican government with US backing, pushing back fundamentalist Iran. Iran had declared an anti-US bias, declared a desire to spread their theological revolution against US puppet states across the Mid-East, and been associated with groups that made attacks against the US military.

In an ideal world, advanced weapon makers would be given a show trial, declared enemies of the people, and sent to work in rural Chinese re-education camps. But what he did isn't more terrible than what other weapon designers do.

Re:Not particularly.

[chewy_2000]

It's a fair comparison. You conveniently forget the fact that von Braun built weapons for Hitler, who I would argue was infinitely more dangerous, especially to the West, than Hussein.
von Braun had a big part in the development of the V-series rockets, which caused a considerable amount of damage to London towards the end of the war? yet from the same technology we got space flight (and ICBMs).

Re:Not particularly.

[jcr]

Wernher Von Braun led the design of the V2 vengeance rockets for the Nazis. ..and he also presided over slave laborers at Penemunde. Von Braun was a war criminal, too. What's your point?

-jcr

Re:Not particularly.

[kamapuaa]

Braun was a war criminal, too. What's your point?

I could explain it to you but why don't you try reading the parent? Don't be so thick.

"Tax Evasion"

[SvnLyrBrto]

Bah....

"Tax Evasion" is what the government busts you for when the government is too incompetent to make the real charges stick (For example, it's what Al Capone actually went to prison for.), or if they don't want to go through the bother, or if what you REALLY did "wrong" is too embarrassing, inconvenient, or not actually illegal.

cya,
john

Thanks for the tidbit...

[Svartalf]

I wasn't actively trying to remember the model series in question- but you're right, it'd probably have been worse if it'd been 747's. In any case, the statement I made overall stands- something doesn't have to be "militarily" viable to be a real problem or threat.

I hear that fed ex also wants his fed ass

[huxrules]

Really now- how could a curise missle not also deliver packages. This is the obvious application of cruise missle tech. Autonomous missle gets filled with packages and flys itself to the local fed ex hub. Step number 2 is profit!!!!

It's a TRAP!

[ageoffri]

Talk about devious. Lone inventor becomes famous for developing cheap and affordable cruise missiles. Now his Government ruins his life and he has to look for work outside his country. When in reality he is secertly working for the Intelligence Agency and is acting as a honey pot to catch terrorist.

Re:It's a TRAP!

[NewtonsLaw]

Actually, as you'll see if you watch the video, I *did* turn over suspicious communications to the SIS (the NZ Secret Service) and cooperated with them at their request.

However, since my support of them wasn't reciprocated I formally withdrew that support following the bankruptcy.

I'm buggered if I'm going to be an unpaid employee of a government that would do what they've done to my family.

My attitude now is that I'll simply ignore any communications that I discover to be associated with any potentially undesirable group.

If the SIS want my help, they can pay me for it.

Isn't it obvious?

[TubeSteak]

New Zealand had no problems with him until the United States cracked the whip. Suddenly their version of the IRS essentially bankrupted him to the point he gave his first missile +designs to someone for safe keeping.

If the U.S. went to those lengths to keep him from finishing, you don't think they're going to drop the hint to the major aerospace companies that he is not welcome? It's like getting blacklisted, but worse, because you know this was instigated through diplomatic back channels so nobody will take the blame/credit for starting the ball rolling.

I don't know...

[jellybear]

Sounds like a suicide to me. Also, he seemed depressed about being unemployed.

you know..

[EvilStein]

"strap electrodes to my balls and lock me in an underground machine shop in the middle of the Tora Bora."

There are people that would probably pay to have that done.. and a whole other set that would pay to see it on the Internet. :P

CIA? Mossad?

[r_j_prahad]

CIA? Mossad? Same thing.

Re:Less Principles More Common Sense

[NewtonsLaw]

Made a point that according to NZ gov't you could sell away to the Iranians -- making them look stupid

So making the government look stupid is a crime punishable by impoverishment?

Took the proceeds from the $200K and didn't pay your tax debt, didn't set aside savings or investments for your family and spent the money building something you don't need and lots of people don't want

Not correct. Most of the $200K was spent repaying loans and other costs I'd incurred while building up 7am.com. Work it out -- $200K for 3-years of 18-hour days, 7 days a week with little income. You can build up a lot of debt during that time and $200K doesn't go far repaying it.

It's also worth noting that in the two years following the one in which I received payment for 7am.com, I paid $135K in tax on taxable income of $200K.

That sounds like an awful lot doesn't it?

That's because only a small percentage of that was actual *tax*, the rest was a mountain of interest and penalties that the tax department piled on with glee.

It's worth noting that (because there's no capital gains tax in New Zealand) there was little tax actually owing on the sale of the company. The penalty bill was many, many times the actual tax -- and at the time they bankrupted me, I'd paid the vast majority of that off.

Refused to go on the dole

Yes, like most people I'd rather work for a living than sponge off others. The only problem is that the government has effectively forbidden me from earning a living because there aren't really a whole lot of jobs going for missile designers here in NZ. That's why I'm looking further afield.

Hardly something to criticise is it?

Yeah right....

[ericlp]

The goal of this project is to create a real, live, flying cruise missile with much of the functionality of the cruise missiles currently employed by the military forces of many western nations.

Yeah right... step away from the crack pipe. 22lb warhead with a CEP of 100 yards. What a loon.

I have considerable professional experience in electronics and software design, particularly in the areas of RF telemetry/control and realtime systems development/implementation.

What projects? And what was the success of these projects?

Oh, for f*cks sake.

[WasterDave]

Not Bruce Simpson, again.

Look, he's a loony. He's legally bankrupt. He's actually bankrupt too. He's a really really good backyard meddler, but he sure as shit wasn't about to make a cruise missile. He spent the late 90's building up a website called 7am.com (a news aggregator) and never had the sense to do some really basic business shit, like hanging onto receipts, or hiring an accountant *before* the IRD start kicking your door down.

Fucks sake. Huge numbers of people in New Zealand work very hard, in very high technology industries and have the shittiest time raising capital and generally being taken seriously. Bruce Simpson's backyard antics make the whole thing worse.

Jesus.

He pisses me off, like you couldn't tell.

Search google groups for Bruce Simpson. His rants on who should and should not be allowed to have children are particularly glorious

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=nz.general+bru ce +simpson+children&selm=7aqHc.8958%24LT3.340210%40n ews.xtra.co.nz&rnum=1

The "IRD picked on me" rants are also glorious, for those who revel in pointless conspiracy theories.

Dave >:(

Re:Good Article. Wikipedia?

[Ray Radlein]

Must have been a temporary glitch -- Wikipedia seems to have a pretty decent little article about Bull now.

Did Bush steal that line from Stalin?

[kupci]

I believe it was from Stalin. And I think it's referenced in one of Orwell's books.

Try Hollywood

[jayrtfm]

Perhaps Industrial Light and Magic, Stan Winston, Hunter/Gratzner, Burman, or other special effects companies could use your skills.
Or closer to home, try Weta, as they're gearing up for King Kong.

Star Wars

[kupci]

What! You mean all that Star Wars stuff was a sham?? The shield that was supposed to protect us all?

Steinbeck (in Sea of Cortez?) had some very interesting thoughts about those who spend enormous effort building walls around themselves, spending such incredible amounts on defense, and that eventually the walls come tumbling down. Rome comes to mind.

Re:Less Principles More Common Sense

[NewtonsLaw]

Sorry to reply to my own post but exactly how long were you behind in taxes

In my case the IRD appear to have thrown their own rule book out the door so they felt happy to pile on enormous penalties and refuse to waive them even though they were in breach of the law.

When an Ernst Young tax accountant challenged them on this and requested a meeting as my appointed representitive, they refused to talk with him.

What's more, although I was punished for my own tardy record-keeping, the IRD directly ignored the order of the courts on a number of separate occasions when directed to fix errors in their records.

How bad were their errors?

Well they even got my name wrong and, despite being advised of this and ordered to correct it on THREE separate occasions, by two district court judges and one high-court judge, they still hadn't done so when they applied to bankrupt me.

In fact, the bankruptcy was issued in the wrong name! Yet, in an unprecedented move, the judgement of the High Court was apparently ammended by a clerk who simply changed the name after the event.

On an earlier occasion, the IRD were also harshly berated by the court for not properly accounting for a very large (over)payment I had been made but which not credited to my account.

In fact, their whole approach to this case was unprofessional and, even when I'd gotten all my filing up to date (a year before they filed the bankruptcy move) and paid all but a small amount of the money I was supposed to have owed, their records were still in a shambles.

It seems that nobody, not even the deputy PM or the Minister for Revenue cared about this minor fact -- which again leaves me believing that this was nothing to do with debt recovery and all about scuttling an embarrassing crusise missile project.

Cheaper Scotty, Beam Me the Hell Outta Here!

[Tablizer]

There is no question that cruise missile, UAV, bio-warfare, chemical weapons technology, and probably nuclear technologies will all continue to fall in cost significantly for the foreseeable future."

Let's hope that space travel also becomes significantly cheaper so that we can get the hell off this planet by the time every bar-room browl or marriage spat results in a mushroom cloud.

There WAS a movie made about Gerald Bull

[b0r0din]

I don't remember who was in it, but it was called something like the Doomsday gun, and was a made-for-TV movie.

Pretty entertaining, actually. Not the best of movies but fairly good for a TV movie.

Re:There WAS a movie made about Gerald Bull

[ectizen]

Yep, it was called Doomsday Gun, and the guy you want is Frank Langella.

the so-called "war on terror" is just an excuse to

[jonwil]

restrict advances in many fields including Cryptography, Aerospace, Computing, Energy (electricity generation etc), biotech, nanotech, robotics and others.

A friend of mine swears thsi is a true story

[Unknown Poltroon]

Which means it isnt, but here it is:

During one of the little brushfire wars in africa, reporters were interviewing an airbase commander after his base and planes had been destroyed in a commando raid. When asked who he thought had done it, he replied, "THe americans"
WHen asked why, he said" WEll, if it had been the isralies, wed all be dead, and if it had been the british SAS we still wouldnt have known tehyd been here."

They make roller coasters don't they?

[KalvinB]

You should just go into some nonviolent career path like amusment park rides. Or some other engineering field that doesn't involve blowing things up with the intent to kill. Teaching could be another option.

I can't imagine they're blacklisting you from every job on the planet. If nothing else I'm sure you could work at McDonald's. You could use your mad engineering skills to turn that thing they make into something that tastes like real meat.

Ben

Re:Stupid gov

[dave1791]

Why? Do you really think his hombrew stuff is any better than guys who have spent years in research. Crude cruise missles were used in WW2 and also in Iraq against the Americans. Crude cruise missles have squat for effectiveness.

With this kind of stuff, the basics are easy, it is the details that take decades of hard work to solve. Remember that Tomahawks are the Nth generation of cruise missle.

Re:How about you talk about things you actually kn

[Moofie]

A 747 isn't militarily viable as a weapons platform

Yeah it is.

He's building large remote control aircraft. He's neither the first nor the last nor the only person on Earth to have this power. Hell, my senior design team did it. It's not rocket science. Huh huh.

Bodging in a GPS guidance system would be pretty straightforward.

Q: Why are all morons Anonymous?

[ThoreauHD]

A: You tell me.

A few suggestions

[ThoreauHD]

You might try small countries that value freedom, unlike New Zealand. Such as the Republic of Sealand. They're claim to fame is that they have a data storage haven called havenco.com, as I recall. Their requirements would be more defensive I would guess.

You would probably find a niche in small independent territories or islands, many of which I am not familiar with.

I want to apologize for the 'boy meets world' maturity of some of the responses. They don't understand that you will die without a matching defense- it's just a matter of time. And all we have are choices and time. I think you can bridge the gap for smaller countries and some independent land owners. Best wishes.

Re:A few suggestions

[RogueProtoKol]

If Sealand started building cruise missles, I think the UK government would go up the wall, across the ceiling and back down the other side and have a seizure on the rug.

Re:A few suggestions

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

If I hadn't already posted to this thread, I'd have to mod you +1 hilarious. Beyond G.B.'s potential brick-shitting reaction to such a development, I think you have severely over-estimated Sealand's resources, even so much as to afford a cut-rate cruise missile.

Like they could even safely test it anywhere in the country, one "oops! premature detonation" and there would be no more country left.

Osama bin Laden is a brave Freedom Fighter

[Gordonjcp]

Don't you remember? He led the Taliban to drive the eeeevil Russkies out of Afghanistan. Have you got the memory of a goldfish or something?

Re:Osama bin Laden is a brave Freedom Fighter

[Mr. Droopy Drawers]

Mr. Goldfish,

The Americans backed the mujahideen, not the Taliban. It was the mujahideen who were the "freedom fighters" in Afgahanistan. Seems that your bias is coming through.

You may want to read up on the taliban in Afganistan.

WMD?

[polyp2000]

Well, looks like New Zealand will be invaded next as they clearly have an active program for the development of Weapons Of Mass Destruction.

I'd love to see them try

[sdoradus]

NZ recently picked up and imprisoned two Mossad employees who tried to obtain New Zealand passports. The last foreign intelligence to attempt a bit of terrorism on New Zealand soil discovered how hard it is. The Zodiacs landed near Orakei yacht club and some Mrs Grundy picked up the phone and called the cops. They were hot on the trail when the frogmen killed a Portugese photographer on board the Rainbow Warrior. I was on the designated SAR boat that night - all I could fish out of the water was a plastic bag of Brussels Sprouts. Some of the frogmen got away by the skin of their teeth, but others were caught and convicted of manslaughter, which French papers quickly translated as Le Rire de l'home. They were laughing out of the other side of their mouths when the sentences were announced. The government of the day proved susceptible to economic blackmail. I doubt that Mossad would have quite the same economic clout.

Pay your taxes

[jamestwok]

Would someone please point out (again) that Bruce Simpson is in the predicament he's in because he didn't pay his frigging tax bills! Not because he was persecuted by the government. Sheesh

Jet CD existance

[nurb432]

Good thing i never ordered it myself.. was tempted about a year ago.. But it looked TOO good, and sounded fishy...

Has ANYONE ever received one of his disks? Perhaps they could just post the contents for the rest of us .. Sure its not 100% legit, but stealing peoples money is 100 % not legit...

Your options

[cryptochrome]

Well, taxmen are the same everywhere: if they want to fuck you over they will, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. Al Capone was tossed in jail over taxes.

Where could you go? Hmm... I'm hard pressed to think of any non-terrorist countries that are looking to build up their missle capability on the cheap and aren't under the USA's thumb. Nearly all the good candidates are. Pretty much all the former communist countries, but a big chunk of those got absorbed into the EU. They're being integrated economically, not militarily yet, so maybe they do have a market, but OTOH if you're part of the EU that means you weren't involved in any outstanding conflicts and you have very powerful and reliable allies. Turkey buys from the US. Egypt's still too close to the fire. Might be a South American country or two, but that's well within the US's sphere of influence and probably a combat zone. India might be interested, if you can muck your way through the beauracracy. And then there's Russia.

The weak point in the LCCM is that it's guided by GPS, which can be compromised - if they see it coming, which is probably not how the relatively short-range LCCM would be used.

Or you could just dump the whole cruise missle thing and focus on the pulsejet side, which would probably make your life a whole lot easier. I'd say you've proved your point, at least well enough to get a government or two trying to actively shut you down.

I've wondered before - couldn't a pulsejet engine be used as a rocket motor? Say once you get above the point where it can breath air effectively, you start injecting oxygen and you get an unpulsed burn? I realize the shape would have to be heavily redesigned to incorporate an efficient rocket combustion chamber/pulse chamber/nozzle (a variable augmentor perhaps?) and a sturdier design would be necessary. But for sure you could make a hybrid engine that would be lighter and simpler than any other option, if not as powerful or efficient. I suppose in that case you'd want to talk to the experts on rocket engines, the Russians.

Sum of the parts....

[orionware]

You can explain how to obtain or manufacture all of the components to Sarin gas or a bomb but when you start assembling the final product or encourage others to do so, that is bad and possibly illegal.

You and I might think that building a cruise missle in the garage is a cool project but there are many others that would like to fly it into a building in New York.

Re:no pity for a weapons designer

[Shirloki]

How is this not a contribution to the entire world? Because cruise missiles are primarily intended to blow shit up? He could just as easily be designing pilotless orbital vehicles for the purpose of inexpensively launching satellites. While the X-Prize is nice, the fact of the matter is that the majority of space launches are unmanned and I think the X-Prize goal of getting two men into space and back safely is very nice indeed (afterall, we need manned launches, too), but slightly misguided. Maybe it should be for an unmanned craft of some kind that can put something into orbit and then two weeks later retrieve it.

Or what about the shipping department? Overseas shipping is amazingly expensive. If stuff could be sent by way of self-guided cruise missile, it'd be cheaper to ship and a hell of a lot faster.

I may be a little naive to think that stuff could be shipped overseas by way of missile, but unmanned orbital placement is far more profitable than X-Prize-type stuff and will be used far more often as a result.

Farenheit 9/11

[hotsauce]

Mr Droopy Drawers,

the Americans backed bin Laden, regardless of what name he calls his group now. As they tend to back a lot of horrible groups/regimes, since the horrible ones can be persuaded to do "whatever it takes" to "protect American interests".

Oh, if you're looking for a movie to watch, Farenheit 9/11 is pretty good. Just leave the propaganda "us good everyone else bad" we were taught in highschool at the door. There really isn't an "us".

Re:How about you talk about things you actually kn

[Svartalf]

It's not a weapons platform in the sense that it's designed for the task. Contrast and compare a 747 with a B-52 or a B-1/B-2. Completely different beast. The only reason why they're using a 747 for the airborne laser system is that it's one of the only "off-the-shelf" airframe that could handle putting the laser in it and still be airworthy- just because it's being used in the initial tests does not mean that they'll deploy with it or if they do, it's not heavily modified to suit the military purpose.

Right to Bear Arms

[BlueTooth]

The 2nd amendment isn't about self defence or hunting, it's about being able to overthrow our government should it become corrupt or to defend our homeland should our armed forces become lame.

Therefor, I declare, that we should all start stockpiling these homemade cruise misles in our basements and backyard sheds.

Re:How about you talk about things you actually kn

[Moofie]

Ah, so I proved you wrong, and you're splitting hairs.

If you'd really like me to compare and contrast the designs, I have the knowledge to do it. I don't think I'm going to bother, as your post above contained two blistering factual errors, and I see no value in your subsequent reply.

Say something interesting.

Forget Cruise Missiles, high speed, long range RPV

[anon mouse-cow-aard]

Forget cruise missiles. Remotely Piloted vehicles (RPV) are a field with tremendous potential. With an RPV, you do not need overly complex guidance systems, because you have a human pilot sitting on the ground. You save costs by building the aircraft without the safety factors needed for a vehicle that will carry people. If this guy could help a company build these things for less $, I am sure he would pay for himself rapidly. Sample weaponless applications:

• drones for target practice by the military (sure, all militaries that need them have them already, but how much do they cost?)
• drones for lighting up enemy radar systems (see the last Israeli/Syrian war)
• cargo aircraft for parcel delivery. Used as Remotely piloted vehicles. As long as they're small enough, even if it crashes the damage done is likely to be minimal, and you do not have to worry about losing a pilot. How about delivering mail in the high artic or ant-arctiv.

  If you can build an RPV with enough range, you could reduce costs of supply to those places quit a bit, and get it to them far more p often. think about it? How do you get fresh vegetables to an antarctic base, or island airport in the pacific ? Use a piloted plane, you want to have a large amount of cargo to offset the costs. Smaller bases in remote areas are supplied more rarely today because of that.

  With an RPV, you could ferry medecines and samples back and forth far more frequently. who cares if it is a 20 hour flight, after 8 hours, the relief pilot comes in, after 16, the night shift guy comes in. They can all live in their home town, and kiss their children at the end of the work day, even if their plan goes down in flames into the pacific ocean.

• delivery of small amounts of whatever to whomever via air. the longer the range of the thing, the more flexible it becomes.
• while satellite tech is used a lot for surveillance, a good camera on a cruise missile could provide higher res imagery of an area of interest (hence the huge US RPV program.)

My guess is that the main thing holding this field back is telecommunications. You want to use something like IRIDIUM, a cell phone like network with global coverage (last I heard they were still in the air), to relay signals from the planes to the pilot bases. That way you don't have to worry about having transmitters near the field of operations, which reduces the cost of operations again. You need enough bandwidth to provide a live video feed of some quality, but the better the automated systems the less quality you need (aside from the reconaissance applications.) I don't know if any of the civilian satellite constellations in orbit have sufficient bandwidth for that, but that's probably the biggest cost, and biggest barrier to this market exploding.

(P.S. once this is working, you can also outsource cargo piloting to India... )

Re:I applaud Bruce Simpson

[I-R-Baboon]

Kudos to you sir.

While everybody here sees fit to bash on you or your take on the behavior of deplorable nations like Israel/PLA, I commend you for what you are doing. For all the false accusations firmly rooted in misunderstanding, you very well could have just faded into obscurity sending your family to a safe-haven and going immediately into the employ of terrorists who would gladly welcome you with open arms and large sums of cash. Rather, you openly state your position and offer your services with the stated understanding you will not undermine your personal morals and values to receive compensation for your skills. Other people have been put in similar boats as well through different circumstances, look at the Biological Warfare experts displaced in Russia.

A large number of things taken for granted in this day and age were a direct result of primary military application before being adapted for civilian use, the ability to read and post on /. being one along with 80% of electricity in France. Imagine the state of the world if ignorance prevailed and America sent Albert Einstein to play hide and seek in Sobibor due to the dangers of his research. To discredit your research and experience is to turn one's back on progress. We will never know the possible civilian applications of this techology and research if we hit the panic button and never explore it. This exact mentality has spread like a cancer through NASA since we got a little bloody nose from the Columbia accident that NASA culture allowed to happen. NOTHING in this world is totally safe, there are risks to everything especially exploring and learning new things.

I wish the best of luck to you, especially in finding a civilian application of the knowledge, skills, and experience that you have. The situation you are trying to endure is not one you wanted to be in, and is a direct result of society and government. Human beings are not trash to be thrown out and legislated away when they have been deemed no longer useful.

Re:the so-called "war on terror" is just an excuse

[/dev/trash]

Riiiight and it has nothing whatsoever to do with stopping people from KILLING us.

Yeah, Let's give Osama or Arrafat a Nuke.

[Ominous Armed Cow]

That would be a better thing right?

The level of your moral relativism is astonishing. Homicide bombings are not "defensive". The people who send kids with the express intent to kill civilians are not the moral equivalents of an army which takes every care to not arbitrarily level the place even though they could do so within a matter of minutes. Who cares?, it's not your city that will get nuked when a pschopath who killed 3000 people just for showing up at work decides to take out American Cities until he gets around to yours. (That description also proportionally applies to Arafat and Israeli cities).

You and Kano must be the most deluded fucks in the world. Israel hasn't USED it's nukes on anyone. Iran or any other fascist state (that would be a government that kills people without provocation because of their religious or ethnic origins in the name of religion or nationalism, as opposed to a state which attacks an aggressor nation in a manner which attempts to spare innocent civilians in order to keep many more from getting slaughtered. The idea that a state which has not used its weapons of mass destruction on neighbors which have invaded it on multiple occassions needs to be reigned in by the totally corrupt UN just demonstrates the depths of your insanity.

I post under my ID (unlike a coward like you) so other deluded idiots who equate a modern democracy with a terrorist run kleptocracy can mod me down. I consider it a privilege to take a hit for truth.

Re:Yeah, Let's give Osama or Arrafat a Nuke.

[Lord Kano]

That would be a better thing right?

I don't believe than any middle eastern nation should be trusted with nukes. Israel included.

The people who send kids with the express intent to kill civilians are not the moral equivalents of an army which takes every care to not arbitrarily level the place even though they could do so within a matter of minutes.

Israel is the one nation on earth that publicly admits to assassinations. They have stated that PLO officials are fair game for assassination. They are not on the moral high ground either. What we have in the middle east is a street fight, and both sides are in the gutter.

Who cares?, it's not your city that will get nuked when a pschopath who killed 3000 people just for showing up at work decides to take out American Cities until he gets around to yours.

We wouldn't have lost those lives in NYC had it not been for our unconditional support of Israel.

The idea that a state which has not used its weapons of mass destruction on neighbors which have invaded it on multiple occassions needs to be reigned in by the totally corrupt UN just demonstrates the depths of your insanity.

So it's the UN who is corrupt? If the entire world thinks that one nation's conduct is wrong, chances are that the entire world is not mistaken.

I post under my ID (unlike a coward like you) so other deluded idiots who equate a modern democracy with a terrorist run kleptocracy can mod me down. I consider it a privilege to take a hit for truth.

*Ahem* WTF do you think I'm not posting anonymously?

I'm posting without using my karma bonus, but I have nothing to hide.

LK

Re:Yeah, Let's give Osama or Arrafat a Nuke.

[Ominous Armed Cow]

Israel has not USED it's nukes. It could, but it hasn't. Why should a government which acts responsibly be forced to place its trust in the hands of others. For that matter, If the principle makes sense for Israel, why shouldn't the U.S. be held to the same standard? -We won't because we would never put our own fate in the hands of others, and neither will Israel.

The assassination of PLO leaders who engage in terrorist acts and support opertations *against civilian targets* is no different than the U.S. killing Osama bin Ladin, or any number of terrorist leaders. This is not a street fight, or Israel would have played by street rules and won a long time ago by wiping the palestinians off the face of the earth. They have not because they are a civilized people who do not resort to the intentional targeting and killing of civilians to achieve political ends.

The idea that our support for Israel was the cause of 9-11 is totally unsupported by the facts. Osama's major claim (as stated in his declaration of war against the United States in 1996) was the presence of "infidel" troops in the Saudi Arabian peninsula. They were there not to protect Israel, but to protect Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Quatar, United Arab Emirates, and the status quo of the oil producing countries from... Saddam Hussein, who had violated 14 UN sanctions since the end of the Gulf War. Not that Osama needed a cause for killing anyone, because his people show no compunction killing fellow muslims in Pakistan, Yemin, Sudan and Saudi Arabia because they are of the wrong sect (Shi'a) or not radical enough.

Finally, your response that its our support for Israel that's to blame doesn't address the problem. The foreign policy of the United States cannot be dictated by foreign psychopaths who dislike our policies, or we would soon have none except total isolation, soon to be followed by our own decimation.

Yes, the U.N. is corrupt. 14 santions without action while the UN collected 3 Billion dollars a year in what *Iraqis* call the "oil for palaces" program, including 800 Million dollars per year for weapons inspections during the 4 years when there *were no weapons inspections*. Koffi Annon's own son was hired as a "consultant" for a few months (and paid hansomly) by the company which (surprise) won the contract to administer the program. Koffi Annon finally relented and named Paul Volker to investigate this incident a few months ago. Among other things, the investigation has discovered confisacted documents turned over by the Coalition Authority which demonstrated first hand knowledge of kickbacks and oil dumping for the benefits of Elf Total and Russian Oil interests, and even a baldface demand for a "contribution" to an official of the UN program to be returned.
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/lak ia_import_e xport.pdf

Recently an auditor investigating the situation was killed when his car blew up...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3863 917.stm

Here is a good overview on the subject, complete with links to pdfs as the lakia document above.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,124298 ,00.html

Other notable malfeasance: Rwanda- 800,000 dead for several months of total inaction, (so much for one of the U.N.'s original rationales: to organize multi-national coalitions to prevent genocide.) Bosnia 10,000+ during the first Yugoslavian War, no action during Kosovo (NATO stepped in since they wouldn't), and 5 years later under U.N. management Kosovo still has electical production issues that are *worse* than Iraq's after 8 months. Palestinians still live in UN refugee camps after 30 years of total inaction. The PLO has gotten Billions in aid during this time, and Arafats cronies live in villas. I don't think that could happen without UN administrative complicity of the sort demonstrated in Iraq. For this Koffi Annon and the UN itself were given a nobel peace prize (for what accomplishment exactly?)

Finally, I did p

Re:Yeah, Let's give Osama or Arrafat a Nuke.

[Lord Kano]

The idea that our support for Israel was the cause of 9-11 is totally unsupported by the facts.

I suggest you watch the documentary titled "Searching for the roots of 9/11", a reporter travels the middle east asking why people hate the USA; time and time again the answers that he gets start with our unconditional support of Israel.

Osama's major claim (as stated in his declaration of war against the United States in 1996) was the presence of "infidel" troops in the Saudi Arabian peninsula. They were there not to protect Israel, but to protect Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Quatar, United Arab Emirates, and the status quo of the oil producing countries from... Saddam Hussein, who had violated 14 UN sanctions since the end of the Gulf War.

BS, our troops were there to protect Israel. Saddam's attack on Kuwait was provoked by Kuwait stealing billions of dollars worth of Iraqi oil. Through April Glaspie, the US made it clear to Saddam that we didn't care if he invaded Kuwait.

The 14 UN sanctions that Iraq violated are nothing compared to the 69 resolutions that Isreal violated. Not to mention the 29 more that were blocked by US vetoes.

The foreign policy of the United States cannot be dictated by foreign psychopaths who dislike our policies, or we would soon have none except total isolation, soon to be followed by our own decimation.

Foreign policy should be dictated by what is best for our country. This alliance with Israel is not.

Don't misunderstand me, I don't think that the Islamists are innocent either. They are to blame for their part in the conflict, what I'm saying is that our unconditional support of one of the parties the conflict is what had painted a bullseye on us.

Bosnia 10,000+ during the first Yugoslavian War, no action during Kosovo (NATO stepped in since they wouldn't), and 5 years later under U.N. management Kosovo still has electical production issues that are *worse* than Iraq's after 8 months.

The UN sided *against* the legitimate Muslim controlled goverment in Kosovo. The UN weapons embargo cost untold lives in that conflict.

I assume you quote Hillary's expression of collectivist socialism to express contempt for it.

You assume correctly.

I am surprised that you appear to be unaware that most of the spectacularly unsuccessful nations which comprise the the UN cling to the same philosophy, that the UN itself regularly espouses it, and this is the real reason why they are so easily corrupted and typically unsuccessful.

This is precisely why I believe that the US should withdraw from the UN, but even a broken clock is right twice per day.

LK

Re:How about you talk about things you actually kn

[Noose For A Neck]

You need much more than GPS to guide a missle - GPS doesn't update nearly fast enough to serve as a guidance system. You'd need much custom-designed instrumentation in order to feed the guidance system accurate information at a fast enough rate to make course corrections and otherwise keep the thing from plummeting into the ground far from its target.

But this is all academic, because this guy is clearly a screwball. He won't be doing anything significant anytime soon.

Allah Akhbar

[Doc Ruby]

Now we turn to Pakistan, where Mr. AQ Khan was unavailable for comment, suffering house arrest shuttling among his collection of villas with his government bodyguards.

Re:the so-called "war on terror" is just an excuse

[koan]

So what are you going to do about it.

Common Photographic Film is based on Mustard Gas

[purduephotog]

Really. I swear it's true. Not mustard gas exactly, but a precursor of both... and it's a VERY nasty agent. In fact, exposure can sensitize you to the point that you are constantly ill...

Oh yeah- I work for the Yellow Box (at least until they laid me off and I no longer get to work with chemicals)...