"Fred J. McCall" wrote in message
...
"Damo" wrote:

:"Fred J. McCall" wrote in message
.. .
: "Damo" wrote:
:
: :A civilian is making a cruise missile in his garage in New Zealand for
less
: :then 5000 dollars.
:
: I'll believe it when he gets it done, it has a usable warhead
: fraction, and it works after being bounced around on roads (and off)
: in the back of a truck for six months. And if it passes that, then
: we'll talk about flight profiles, RCS, accuracy under GPS-jammed
: conditions, etc.
:
: Get back to me.
:
:I wasnt pretending this was military grade weapon (the GPS component
rules
:that out straight away) but if someone told you this 10 years ago you
would
:write it off completely.

Really? I find that quite odd, since I remember George talking about
how to build a rocket much more cheaply than we are STILL building
them and didn't "write it off completely". I'm pretty sure that was
more than 10 years ago.

Was that just a rocket or a cruise missile? Cheap GPS units are only a
relative recent occurance although in the US you may have had $100 GPS units
10 years ago.

I do find the price tag pretty ludicrous,
given that you can't buy a car for that kind of money.

Well actually you can buy cars for that amount of money, and quite
complicated ones at that. A flying bomb is IMO much simpler -
engine+computer+leading edges and servo units. Making it reliable and
accurate is another thing entirely....


:With todays technology it is at least possible, and
:for terrorists it doesnt have to meet your guidelines above - just hit
:something in a city will do it.

Using mortars off the shelf is easier and cheaper if your only goal is
to lob some explosives into a city.

If you want to escape launching something from 20-50km away is much better
then 2-5km away. And more terrifying - imagine the media response: CRUISE
MISSILE HITS NEW YORK!

Damo

--
"Death is my gift." -- Buffy, the Vampire Slayer