Reeves AN/TSQ-96 Bomb Directing Central

The Reeves AN/TSQ-96 Bomb Directing Central was a Cold War automatic tracking radar/computer/communications system ("Q" system) that was an India Band monopulse variant of the conical scan Reeves AN/MSQ-77 Bomb Directing Central and had a solid state Univac 1219B computer with punch tape reader^[1] (Mark 152 fire control computer),^[2] for ballistic calculation. As with the MSQ-77, an analog vacuum tube computer converted radar range, azimuth, and elevation to cartesian coordinates, but the TSQ-96 used a digital radiometer for analog-to-digital conversion. The TSQ-96 systems manufactured by Reeves Instrument Corporation were replaced c. 1990 by the US Dynamics AN/TPQ-43 Radar Bomb Scoring Set ("Seek Score").^[3]

Sites

An AN/TSQ-96 was used for Vietnam War ground-directed bombing training at Bergstrom AFB in Austin TX and tracked flights at the Matagorda Island General Bombing and Gunnery Range.^[4] Deployment of the central began at operating location 23 (OL-23) on Nakhon Phanom RTAFB during the Vietnam War^[5] and in 1983, Radar Bomb Scoring Division Detachment 24 operated a TSQ-96 for Radar Bomb Scoring in Guam.^[6] The La Junta Bomb Plot also used a TSQ-96. This radar was the one at Keesler AFB and previously Bergstrom AFB. The set was packed up at Keesler AFB by personnel from Det. 8 and shipped to Det 1. Detachment 12, 1CEVG Hawthorne, Nevada had a TSQ-96 that had been transferred from Detachment 6, 1CEVG Bayshore, Michigan. Detachment 8, 1CEVG Richmond Ky from 1975 to 1982 then this system was transferred to Det. 24 Guam. Submitted by MSgt Tony Scaccia, USAF, RET, TSQ-96 Equipment Supervisor Richmond, Ky.

References