Impulse testing equipment for military applications

MIL 461 is arguably one of the most widely used test standards for military electronics suppliers, due largely to the fact that it covers inter-service operability issues. This standard draws on the NATO (stanag) and civilian (ANSI/IEEE) experiences. In line with other international standards, the test event is now specified at the point of connection to an EUT which includes all coupling elements in the system calibration. This has the immediate effect of precluding test equipment that was designed for previous MIL 461 standards. This paper will differentiate between the current and previous editions of MIL 461, describing changes to the test requirements both in terms of equipment requirements and calibration procedures.