Functional Design of the Minuteman Flight Control System

The flight control system on board the MINUTEMAN missile is a rate plus position multi-rate sampled-data control system. This missile has the capabilities of withstanding long storage periods in underground silos and can be launched on a moment's notice. Control of MINUTEMAN I is achieved by vectoring four nozzles on each of the three stages. MINUTEMAN II is controlled by vectoring four nozzles on each of stages one and three and by injecting liquid into the exhaust stream of stage two. To control the thrust vector throughout boost, the control system uses a general purpose digital computer, an angular accelerometer unit, three thrust vector control units, and three digital resolvers.

This paper presents a functional description of the control system along with a description of each of the major components. In addition, control system synthesis techniques are demonstrated. Included also are block diagrams and system equations.