Using hi-tech parts bought over the internet, a New Zealand handyman says he is building a cruise missile in his garage and has a message for anyone who wants to do the same: You don’t have to be a rocket scientist.
Bruce Simpson says he’s planning to give step-by-step instructions via a website on how to make the jet-powered missile, which he claims would be able to fly the 100 kilometres between his home and Auckland in less than 15 minutes, the New Zealand Herald reported.
The missile could carry a small warhead weighing 10 kilogrammes and Simpson claimed the Air Force would have no way of stopping it.
Simpson (49) who works as an internet site developer, said that his missile project, which he says will cost less than 5 000 New Zealand dollars (US$2 850), was intended to warn governments how easy it would be for terrorists to build one.
”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,” Simpson says on his website.
A police representative declined to comment on whether they were investigating Simpson’s project, but said they were ”now aware of the situation.”
”It’s not something we recommend people try at home,” said Rebecca Holt.
Former US Defence Department analyst and terrorism expert Paul Buchanan said Simpson may not be trying to encourage terrorism, but ”might be facilitating it.”
If the missile worked, it would send a powerful message to authorities, he told the newspaper.
”It might alert them as to how darn easy it is to assemble this stuff,” said Buchanan, who lectures at Auckland University.
Simpson told the newspaper that his website, entitled: ”A DIY Cruise Missile — watch me build one for under NZ$5 000,” had received 250 000 hits in two weeks.
He said he was alarmed at the ease with which he’d bought from overseas websites the parts needed to guide the missile, and import them into the country — passing local Customs with ease.
”All this stuff is off the shelf,” the Herald quoted him as saying. ”It rang no alarm bells.”
”You don’t have to be a rocket scientist,” he was quoted as saying.
The imported parts included a radio control transmitter and flight pack, global positioning gear, antennas and a flight control system.
The website allows the public to view pictures and prices of the components, but for more information users must pay a subscription, which Simpson says he plans to offer once the site is complete, to cover his costs.
The Herald said Simpson has already tested several noisy jet engines on a bench in his garage, something his neighbours up to one kilometre away could confirm.
Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, is 660 kilomeres northeast of the capital, Wellington. – Sapa-AP