Philips PTS 6271 Keyboard Numeric - ATAC System

The ATAC system prop seen in For Your Eyes Only (1981) was built using a Philips PTS 6271 Keyboard Numeric.

Philips computers can be spotted throughout the film (see an overview here), but perhaps the most iconic gadget from the film is the ATAC (Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator).

The Bond production designers asked Philips, a long-time collaborator on the Bond films, to provide them with futuristic-looking computer equipment for the film.

The designers ended up using the main body of the "Philips PTS 6271 Keyboard Numeric" for the ATAC and added some custom parts.

As can be seen in the images on the left, the body, keys and locks are the same as the original keyboard, although the images on the keys were swapped out. On top, a digital display was added, while on the bottom an extra layer and handle were added.

Even the Philips logo can be spotted on the device (although some of the props do not have the logo).

This numerical keyboard was part of the Philips PTS 6000 Terminal System, which was used by banks in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

This exact keyboard is now almost impossible to find, there aren't even many images of the keyboard.

About the ATAC
In the movie, the Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator (ATAC) is a system used by the British Ministry of Defence to co-ordinate the Royal Navy's fleet of Polaris submarines. The device is lost at sea after accidentally trawling an old naval mine in the Ionian Sea. Bond retrieves the device but it's taken from him by Kristatos, who is working for the KGB to retrieve the ATAC. Bond, with the help of Colombo and Melian, once again gets his hands on the device right before the exchange with the KGB and he decides to destroy the ATAC so that the KGB can't take it.

With thanks to the research of Prof. Mats Danielson (Stockholm University) and Arne Läppinen in their publication The Rise and Fall of Philips Data Systems (download PDF here and check out pages 287-295 for some more information about Philips products in the James Bond films).