Tornado Computer (Programmer Electronic Control)...

[baigar]

Hi dear experts,

recently I came across an offer from a company mainly selling used equipment in the UK. On their web site they offer a sort of black box for sale. Those boxes have been on eBay, too. This box titled "Programmer Electronic Control" shall have been part of a Computer of the Tornado aircraft as their offer claims.

Looking at the pictures the box is full of 74xx TTL-chips having been obsolete 15 years ago. So it might be 30 years old. Does anybody know what is was used for? Since it contains quite a lot memory for those days it might indeed have been some vital computer part? Additionally I wonder where these boxes come from?

Thanks,

Erik.

'Erik' - a few amendments to remove commercial links etc, as per forum rules

Additional Info, 1/24/2005, Baigar: Sorry for my mistake in including a link to a commercial site. The partnumber of the box, made by Marconi Avionics, is 51-019-02, NSN1680-99-652-3410. It contains lots of modules.