Ken Sherriff teardown of my Titan nuclear missile guidance computer

No better time for artifact archaeology than a pandemic lockdown.

Ken delivers the goods once again on his Righto blog.

80-lbs with a machined aluminum case pressurized with nitrogen. The processor is made from scores of Signetics TTL chips not sold commercially. Hex nuts cut in half and screwed to precise angles allow each board to slide only into the proper slot.

The core memory “book” is a work of art and quite creative in its engineering (photos below). Image above: “These interface boards are wired to the connectors on top of the computer. Through these interfaces, the computer receives velocity and attitude pulses from the inertial measurement unit (IMU). The computer sends analog control signals to various actuators, as well as discrete (binary) signals to other parts of the rocket for thrusters, staging, and other functions.”

The Magic 352 missile guidance computer (MGC) became this Universal Space Guidance System (USGS), and the Titan IIIC rocket switched from a Univac computer to the USGS, first flying with it in 1973.

“The Titan missile, deployed from 1959 to 1987 was the largest ICBM deployed by the United States and delivered a 9 megaton nuclear bomb. To get a sense of how large the Titan was, the currently-deployed Minuteman missile weighs a third as much and its warhead has 1/25 the yield.”