Why the US nuclear force still uses floppy disks? – The Nacional.com

If you do not want to look like the last century, you not confess that once you used them. And if you are of this century and have no idea what we’re talking about, read on: we explain

The American force that handles nuclear weapons still uses a computer system 70 and floppies. eight inches, as revealed in an official report.

the office accountability Pentagon said it is one of several departments using “legacy systems” that should be urgently replaced.

the report said that citizens pay about $ 61,000 million a year through their taxes to maintain obsolete technologies.

that is three times what is invested in modern computer systems.

the document said that the Defense Department systems that coordinate intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers and support aircraft to oil tankers “operate with an IBM series 1 -a system of the early 1970- and use diskettes eight inches. “

What are the disks?

-Also called floppies, became popular in the 70s.

-A standard 8-inch floppy disk has a memory of 237KB, just enough to record 15 seconds of audio.

He would need more than 130,000 diskettes to store 32GB of memory, which is the ability of a average memory card.

-In the 90 3.5-inch disk took place from 8 inches as the most popular format, with 1.44MB memory.

-the manufacturer Dell stopped making computers with slot floppies in 2003. very few brands are making.

-still are used in some of the 90 teams that are very valuable to throw away.

“This system is still in use because, in one sentence, it still works,” said Lt. Col. Valerie Henderson, a Pentagon spokesman, told AFP.

“However , to address concerns about obsolescence is planned that floppy disks are replaced by secure digital devices by the end of 2017, “she added.

” the modernization of the entire Nuclear Command, Control and Communications continues being an ongoing task “.

the report said the Pentagon intends to substitute the entire system by 2020.

the document also said the Treasury department requires upgrade their systems . In this case because it uses an “assembly language code, first used in the 50s and typically tied to equipment for which it was developed.”