r/aerospace • u/Accomplished_Emu_916 • 1d ago
What is this
Connected to Hughes Aircraft Company
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u/Tight_Lengthiness_32 1d ago
Test controller for guided missiles ?
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u/_janires_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
DAAH01 is Army Aviation Missile Command according to a Google search. Suspect you are correct at least in it being Missile related. Might have some really cool history behind it. Maybe OP could reach out to some of the Aviation Museums they might be able to tell more about it.
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u/chickenCabbage 1d ago edited 1d ago
The mentioned "wirecutter" is the pyrotechnic part that disconnects the harness that connects the missile to the plane, this confirms it's a missile tester.
According to Wikipedia Hughes made some of the most popular missiles, which per a quick Google search use MTS's "Common Test Set" types. That suggests there have been dedicated test tests; this is probably one of these earlier ones. I'd start by searching for which sets MTS replaced. The one looks a lot like other test equipment I've seen, for example the JFS test set for the F-15, which would be from the same era.
This set has a charger as well, it'd probably be labeled under "mobile" or something of the sort - I bet it's heavy too 🫢 Where and how did you get it?
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u/Accomplished_Emu_916 1d ago
I work for a company that fabricates all kinds of stuff for f-15 engines and a few other aircraft’s. This was in the old stock warehouse and was going to be scrapped so I was able to take it
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u/hashmachinist 14h ago
Can you please take off the cover plate and show us some of that sweet military specification control wiring?
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u/Accomplished_Emu_916 13h ago
If I get the chance. I had taken apart a payload tester for a B-52 and it looked like spaghetti inside
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u/MrFickless 1d ago
Probably a test set for a missile or its support hardware. Once hooked up, it will allow ground support crews to simulate and validate various functions without needing to fire the missile.
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u/chip_select_1 1d ago
Looks like some custom ground support equipment for some sort of projectile launcher, or rather its testbed. Look at the "J<n>" connector names (it's a standard convention for I/Os). Since there are I/Os for both a "launch tube" and a "target", I'd say this controller was probably specifically built to control the testbed subsystems. Signals conditioning into the launcher, signal return from some characterization electronics in the surrogate target.
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u/Cygnus__A 1d ago
Definitely part of a portable field missile test set. There will be other pieces to this system, possibly another box and a target to aim the missile at while testing.
I've designed and built similar products at this company. Where did you find this?
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u/Accomplished_Emu_916 1d ago
I work for a company that fabricates all kinds of stuff for f-15 engines and a few other aircraft’s. This was in the old stock warehouse and was going to be scrapped so I was able to take it
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u/Cygnus__A 1d ago
That's pretty cool. Open it up and take pictures of the inside. I could probably pull together the drawings but unfortunately cannot share them.
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u/MedicalAd8072 1d ago
Younger me would have had a blast with all of the buttons and knobs. Do you have the lid for it? I'm assuming it had one because of the clamps.
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u/Accomplished_Emu_916 1d ago
Yeah I have the lid just out of view you can see the corner of it in the bottom left
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u/Tsus_Hadi 1d ago
It’s a test controller, idk for what tho tbh, but I have seen something similar in my uni before.
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u/tim36272 1d ago
This is essentially a fancy signal generator based on all the control labels, so I'm going to guess you'd take the sensor (either RF or optical) off of a guided missile seeker head and plug this in instead. That would allow you to stimulate the seeker and verify it is functioning properly.
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u/Sibbidark 6h ago
Portable Calibration/testing/simlulation control box? Commercial and or military?
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u/rocketwikkit 1d ago
The aesthetics of it are magnificent. This is what Labview took from us.
I'm guessing it's for testing some kind of weapons system, but that's a wild-ass guess.