Boing Boing Staging

Pentagon's nuclear missile system is run on 1970s floppy disk tech

In a new report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reveals that the “Department of Defense uses 8- inch floppy disks in a legacy system that coordinates the operational functions of the nation’s nuclear forces.” That floppy format was developed in the late 1960s and was obsolete by the 1980s. I wonder if the DoD saves a few bucks by using a hole punch to make them double sided.


According to the GAO report, “The agency plans to update its data storage solutions, port expansion processors, portable terminals, and desktop terminals by the end of fiscal year 2017.”


INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems (PDF)

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