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You can & you can't. Just plugging the GPS into a serial port isn't going to cut it. I mean I can plug our 76S into our laptop to upload and download in waypoints, etc., but in order to control the vehicle (in our case, a boat, but in this case, it's a missle), you'd need the software interface as well, and the software would have to be rewritten, then it'd have to uploaded to the GPS in a format the GPS would accept. They'd have to using more than a commercial GPS--it'd have to be specialized, as well as the guidance software. They'd have to have a military grade GPS that'd survive the degradation of the GPS signals to commercial GPS units.

What are you talking about? You absolutely can walk into any marine store today and walk out with hardware that will steer an autopilot to a GPS waypoint. That autopilot/GPS combo can be rigged to a drone as easily as a boat.

And if the signal is degraded (selective availability) that won't help much if the target is an entire city.

Well obviously you need some other device to interpret the data from the GPS unit and provide the control. I think it would take rather a bit more than a PIC micro (but then the only PIC I've used is pretty small); when I mentioned a serial port it was just as some means to access the data from the GPS. Using photosensors aimed at the LCD screen just seems a bit complex, for example, esp. if you can access the data digitally.

But it doesn't seem like adding waypoints is all that complex -- compared to all the control functions to be performed (I've written plotting functions but I've never written an autopilot). And would degrading GPS resolution to 50' be all that serious to such a device? It seems like altitude would be the most problematic aspect, but a non-GPS altimeter would take care of that.

They'd have to using more than a commercial GPS

Not really. Delivering anthrax or VX does not require more than 150 foot accuracy - a lot less really.

And interfacing to a GPS is also fairly trivial. You figure your distance from the waypoint you want, and you turn until your heading is taking you there. The GPS will also give you altitude and groundspeed to within reasonable tolerances, even with a degraded signal.

This is a very plausible type of attack.

"You can & you can't. Just plugging the GPS into a serial port isn't going to cut it. I mean I can plug our 76S into our laptop to upload and download in waypoints, etc., but in order to control the vehicle (in our case, a boat, but in this case, it's a missle), you'd need the software interface as well, and the software would have to be rewritten, then it'd have to uploaded to the GPS in a format the GPS would accept."

You are wrong about this... All you need is a $150 GPS and a laptop. Hell, you could do it with a palm pilot. The software interface would be trivial...

You can & you can't. Just plugging the GPS into a serial port isn't going to cut it. I mean I can plug our 76S into our laptop to upload and download in waypoints, etc., but in order to control the vehicle (in our case, a boat, but in this case, it's a missle), you'd need the software interface as well, and the software would have to be rewritten, then it'd have to uploaded to the GPS in a format the GPS would accept. They'd have to using more than a commercial GPS--it'd have to be specialized, as well as the guidance software. They'd have to have a military grade GPS that'd survive the degradation of the GPS signals to commercial GPS units.

If they are just going to dumb a biological or chem payload in a populated area, then it doesn't need military-grade accuracy. I would imagine that there are any number of Iraqis who were send over to the US to get their engineering degrees who might be able to make this work.