posted on December 10, 2003 07:42:37 PM new
A New Zealand engineer who made world headlines with his homebuilt cruise missile said he had received "very serious" offers from an Iranian company to invest in the project.
Bruce Simpson said the firm was linked to the aerospace and missile industries, and was one of a number of enquiries from several countries including Pakistan, China and Lebanon.
But after "worrying about the bigger picture" and turning down the offers, the cash-strapped engineer found himself bankrupted by the Inland Revenue Department for non-payment of taxes.
The Iranians made "very serious inquiries about investing in the development of the X-jet technology", Simpson said.
"I have since had emails from Pakistan, Lebanon, China and other countries, all of which sought to obtain details of the X-jet project and some of which have involved seemingly genuine offers of not insignificant payment for such information."
Simpson said he contacted the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service who advised it was "certainly not sensible" to export such technology.
Instead he signed a heads of agreement with a United States firm that would have set up a research and development plant in Waikato. But the deal was scuttled last Monday when he was bankrupted.
A bitter Simpson said Inland Revenue was stupid to quash a deal that would have reaped cash "hundreds of times the value of the outstanding debt".
The 49-year-old engineer, website developer and software technician worked within a budget of $US5,000 ($7,770) to build and perfect his do-it-yourself cruise missile.
The "X-Jet" is similar to the pulse-jets that powered Germany's V-1 missiles in World War II, and the GPS guided missile has a range of 160 kilometres with a 10kg warhead.
Simpson said he acquired most of the parts from the online auction house eBay, including a GPS system purchased for $US120 ($186) that "was delivered by international airmail in less than a week and passed through customs without any problems."
The missile was no longer in his possession, and its whereabouts would be kept secret "until an appropriate time", he said.
posted on December 11, 2003 12:13:53 PM new
Twelve, you & I both know the person you are refering to doesn't have the intellect to build such a device.
All the intellegent citizens of somebodys country have migrated to New Zealand, where they haven't rolled over like a whipped dog & given up all their rights.
"Another plague upon the land, as devastating as the locusts God loosed on the Egyptians, is "Political Correctness.'" --Charlton Heston
posted on December 11, 2003 04:56:37 PM newAll the intellegent citizens of somebodys country have migrated to New Zealand, where they haven't rolled over like a whipped dog & given up all their rights.
rights...you mean like the right of due process under law when accused of a crime?...or the right to see a search warrant before they kick in your door?...or worse, come creeping around your house when you're not home? those rights?...or different ones?
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The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then gets elected and proves it.
-- P. J. ORourke (Holidays in hell, 1989)
