New Zealand man building cruise missile in garage, posting details on Net

AFP ^ | Tue, Jun 03, 2003

[presidio9]

New Zealand home handyman is building a do-it-yourself cruise missile with legal, off-the-shelf equipment and claims he can do it for under 5,000 US dollars.

AFP/NAVY VISUAL NEWS REFERENCE/File Photo

But the activities of Bruce Simpson were Tuesday attracting official interest, particularly as he has now test fired several jet engines.

On his website (www.interestingprojects.com/cruisemissile) Simpson says he was challenged by US military experts over his claim the missile could easily be built.

"So, in order to prove my case, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and build a cruise missile in my own garage, on a budget of just 5,000 US dollars," the 49-year-old Internet developer says.

"Obviously the goal of this website is not to provide terrorists or other nefarious types with the plans for a working cruise missile but to prove the point that nations need to be prepared for this type of sophisticated attack from within their own borders."

He said he managed to acquire most of the parts from the online auction house eBay, including a GPS system purchased for 120 US dollars that "was delivered by international airmail in less than a week and passed through customs without any problems."

The initial procurement is so far the only one of 15 stages of development completed in Simpson's missile diary.

Simpson told Radio New Zealand it was a crude missile but it was easy enough to make and he expected to have it flying by the end of the month.

"It's like a small aircraft powered by a jet engine," he said, which could easily reach a chosen destination up to 100 kilometres (62 miles) away, carrying a 10-kilogram (22-pound) payload.

Authorities were reluctant to comment Tuesday but it was clear they were taken an interest in the project.

The Defence Department would not comment but one official told the New Zealand Herald that Simpson's website could be violating the international Missile Technology Control Regime, under which New Zealand has agreed to restrict the availability of missile technology.

[Ten Megaton Solution]

What's wrong with having your own stinger? People can own rifles, can't they?

What, truly is the moral distinction between being able to kill people one at a time (or more. Imagine a sniper aiming at the driver of a Greyhound Bus on the freeway...), and being able to kill them in batch lots?

Last time I checked, the biggest incident of mass murder on American soil was done by towelheads with box cutters.

[in the Arena]

Maybe you could resurrect this one...

http://home1.gte.net/ikvamar/avlinks/sub.htm

[presidio9]

No, you are right. People should always be able to do/own anything their hearts desire. And society should trust the lowest common denominator to always do the right thing. If Samir, the guy who sells me my newspaper every morning, says he needs a stinger missle as a conversation piece, I think that's a swell idea!


What'd I tell you folks? They're out there!

[DannyTN]

When is a missle a missle?

[stanz]

I hope that's not you..................

[presidio9]

I give up. When?

[DannyTN]

"I give up. When? "

I don't know either. It just seems from the description like this guy is playing with toy airplanes.

So how is a missle in the treaties defined? When do you cross the line and your toy airplane becomes an international treaty violation?

[Ten Megaton Solution]

You haven't refuted what I said. Are you saying people should be controlled? I guess it broke your heart when the Berlin Wall came down.

Who sets the limits? If your paper boy thinks he needs a Patriot, perhaps he does. I suspect there are people on this thread right here that want to control what he does.

[presidio9]

Agreed. This is reeks of handwringing.

[presidio9]

I don't need to. Your hardheaded loonacy is self-evident. You have soulmates in pro-abortionists who defend partial birth abortion tooth and nail. Sensible people know that there are lines to be drawn on personal freedoms. That line falls somewhere south of guaranteed access to surface to air missles.

[Thud]

ping

[shaggy eel]

,,, the strategy's working! Firstly, Helen Klark makes anti-American comments about the Iraq campaign in order to give New Zealand a hostile national profile.

Secondly, in the knowledge that New Zealand's Symphony Orchestra is more adequately funded than it's military, a dedicated internet developer, somewhat displaced in the fallout from the dotcom revolution takes it upon himself to assist the advancement of New Zealand's status as having potential for weapons of mass destruction.

Pssst: You do know how much oil exists in the Great South Basin, don't you?

[Ten Megaton Solution]

Yes. Sensible people know there are lines to be drawn on personal freedoms. I'm guessing that you can't define them.

I really like the way you try to color my position with extraneous accusations of "pro-choice" and other such things when you don't have a clue who you're talking to. That's one of the top ten techniques of people who can't discuss an issue, isn't it?

[stanz]

Don't worry about having weapons of mass destruction, they're easily dismantled,just ask the Iraqis...and should something go terribly wrong, as Orangedog says, it can only go wrong once.

[shaggy eel]

,,, what could possibly go wrong? Fortunes have been built on defense contracts that have had humble starts. I'm sitting in a building looking across Wellington harbour right now. Over the other side is an industrial area called Gracefield/Seaview. There's a nuclear accelerator there, used for carbon dating and research. The path ahead is clear [LOL!]

[presidio9]

I didn't lable you "pro-choice" (or "pro-abortion" for that matter, but why quibble). I said that you have a soul mate in radical pro-abortionists who see everything in black and white.

I don't believe in absolute freedom. Because there are devices that insane people can't be trusted with the rest of us don't get to enjoy them as freely as we might wish. And, no, I am not talking about assault weapons. But I think that surface to air missles and heroine both fit the bill.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Our Founding Fathers were able to make the wise distinction between "Liberty" and "Licentiousness." Some of our friends can't.

This guy is building a jet/rocket engine? Don't think many will be able to do that.

[stanz]

If I were you, I'd keep a pair of binoculars handy. From that vantage point, you could check on suspicious behavior. Bruce Simpson might be skulking about looking for castoffs to embellish his missile.

[shaggy eel]

,,, all the suspicious behaviour is caught by satellite and closed circuit cameras. Don't draw me into conversation about my good old binocular days!!!

[presidio9]

If you showed our founding fathers the surface to air missle that you were building, you might have been burned at the stake. The concept is as foreign to their world as muskets were to the indians.