Build your own cruise missile.. Be the first on your block to own one

[SoCalDem]

http://www.aardvark.co.nz/pjet/cruise.shtml

[CanuckAmok]

1. For some reason, I'm picturing Professor Frink...

"Well, my wife will be relieved; she's been against this whole 'death ray' thing from the beginning..."

[Loonman]

2. I could launch an attack on Cambridge or Lower Allston!

LOL!

:)

[Xithras]

3. My BIL built one of these two years ago in college

Well, sort of. They put a laptop in an RC plane with a GPS receiver, a cheap gyro, and digital USGS topo maps. The plane was able to determine its location, altitude, and orientation from the gyro and GPS receiver, and by referencing that against the topo map it managed to fly 30 miles at 250 feet under its own power before crashing twenty feet from its target (that was software bug...it was actually supposed to circle the target but their "fly in a circle" function didn't specify flight altitude).

They actually had a webpage up for a while detailing the whole project, along with detailed specs of the plane and the source code for their navigation software, but the pulled it down about a year ago. Anyone want to venture a guess as to why? Yep...he got a visit from the FBI. They pointed out to him that with the simple addition of an explosive device, the design he was posting on the web could easily have been used as a weapon by terrorists, and not just for bombs...his software allowed flight planning (originally intended to steer the plane around large obstacles) which could have been used to release "chemical or biological weapons" over a city in a controlled pattern. They emphasized to him that, while they couldn't force him to take it down and he wasn't breaking any laws, there was precedent in place to hold him liable for damages in civil court should anyone be killed by terrorists using his design. Rather than risk it, he shut down the site.

Sad.