Monday, May 8, 2006

Flying robot attack ‘unstoppable’: experts

... Japanese company Yamaha, meanwhile, has produced 95-kilogram (209-pound) robot helicopter that is 3.6 metres (11.8 feet) long and has a 256 cc engine.

pic_001.jpgIt flies close to the ground at about 20 kilometres per hour (12 miles per hour), nothing but an incredible stroke of luck could stop it if it suddenly appeared in the sky above the White House -- and it is already on the market.

Bruce Simpson, an engineer from New Zealand, managed to produce an even more dangerous contraption in his own garage: a mini-cruise missile. He made it out of readily available materials at a cost of less than 5,000 dollars (4,000 euros).

According to Simpson's website (www.interestingprojects.com/cruisemissile), the New Zealand authorities forced him to shut down the project -- though only once he had already finished making the missile -- under pressure from the United States. - phys

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