Build your own cruise missile By StormShadow in Technology Mon May 05, 2003 at 12:39:21 PM EST Tags: Freedom (all tags)
	Apparently this fellow is proposing to demonstrate that it would be a relatively simple thing to build your own primitive (yet functional and deadly) cruise missile using off-the-shelf parts and for about $5,000.

The fellow proposing to carry out this attempt previously built a pulse jet engine for about $80,000. His proposed cruise missile will be built around this pulse jet and it will be designed to have a velocity of approximately 500 Km/h, a range of approximately 160 Km and carry a 10 Kg explosive warhead. Therefore, he is not suggesting you can build a sophisticated, long range, and high explosive yield cruise missile with sub-meter accuracy but a more primitive version that would still be a very useful terror weapon. One thing I noted while looking through his site is that he is not counting the cost of the engine when he states one can build a functioning cruise missile for $5,000. Since he already had done the necessary R&D to create the engine, it is fair not to count that as part of the cost. However, even if you include that cost, you only raise the price to $90,000. This is still well within the reach of terrorist organizations and even resourceful individuals. And, personally, I believe he is correct that it could be done for approximately the price he suggests. More ominously, the items necessary to build this cruise missile are relatively common and would arouse no suspicion even if purchased all together. Once you have the engine, all you need are suitable GPS receivers, an inertial back-up guidance system (could be as simple as a gyroscope), some microcontrollers to tie the system together and, of course, the software to run the entire system. He is proposing a few more capabilities such as real-time video but one can ignore this as it is not crucial for the performance of the system. Furthermore, although not discussed in his page, it might be possible to build a guidance system that would function by using the cell phone towers common in developed nations to triangulate its position and augment its inertial guidance system (useful in a situation where the GPS system might be selectively denied by the military). This article is not interesting to me solely based on technical merit (although that is a major part of it for me) but also because of the ethical (if there is such a thing) dilemma presented by the wide-spread publication of a DIY CRUISE MISSILE-HOWTO that will undoubtably be interesting to certain unsavory characters. I do not know what the laws are in New Zealand, but in the United States he could publish detailed schematics, software and pretty much anything else he wants about the project without much fear of prosecution due to 1st Amendment protections. This does not mean the government or even most US citizens would be happy, but it does mean there is little they could legally do about it. My personal stance on this question is simple: An individual should have the inalienable right to say or publish anything he wants short of fraud or slander. This does not mean an individual should have the right to build and own a stack of cruise missiles but that he should be allowed to know and pass on the knowledge of how to build one. Therefore, I am a very strong supporter of very wide 1st Amendment protection and against European-style censorship of information or unpopular opinions (for example, it is my understanding Mein Kampf is illegal in Germany). Where does this leave the public and the question of public safety? I honestly do not have an answer to that question. But I do offer that criminalizing or trying to restrict knowledge to the general public rarely achieves the protection one desires and often leaves the public at a distinct disadvantage. Any student who attends graduate school in aerospace engineering would have the capabilities to build such a system if he desired and it would not be much of a problem for terrorist organizations to send members to the United States to take the necessary classes. Therefore, public publication of knowldege (such as the possibility that home-made cruise missiles may be possible) serves the public interest by pressuring the government to do something about it (although, perhaps, there may be no remedy). Finally, I would like to mention that this tension between dangerous knowledge and the 1st Amendment is even more acute in the biological sciences where the equipment necessary to build dangerous pathogens continues to become more common, cheaper, and easier to use with little training.

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DIY Cruise missile? Where can I get me one of these! 49% This is crazy censor this stuff! 3% 1st Amendment should protect this stuff 47% Votes: 123 Results | Other Polls

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this fellow The fellow built a pulse jet engine a sophisticated, long range, and high explosive yield cruise missile with sub-meter accuracy more primitive a gyroscope Mein Kampf is illegal in Germany more common, cheaper, and easier Also by StormShadow