AN/FSQ-7: the computer that shaped the Cold War

1 Introduction

Many books covering various aspects of the Cold War¹ have been written in the past – most of them deal with the highly complex chains of events which took place after World War II and during the Cold War, many deal with personal histories and recollections, often heroic and brave, but only few concentrate on the machines which were developed during this time as a direct result of new requirements posed by the unique threats of the Cold War. Many of these machines would eventually turn out to be cornerstones of our technological age, ranging from high-speed aircraft, rockets, manned space-flight to miniaturized electronics, high-speed digital computers and much more. The effect the Cold War had on the development of computer systems ...