America’s nuclear arsenal still runs off of 8-inch floppy discs | Chips | Geek.com
People from all over the political spectrum are up in arms this week, following a 60 Minutes report on the state of the US nuclear arsenal. Particularly, the segment exposes the old and seemingly outdated technology that controls and underlies these most powerful of weapons. The phones are old, chunky physical types. The switch-boards have those big mechanical switches and flashy lights. And the paramount sin: Many of the records are kept on 8 inch floppy disks.
It’s an odd thing, to see the plans and security information for the most destructive technology in history in a form most people associate with Reader Rabbit and The Oregon Trail. Still, is this really so bad? Certainly, the first two are hardly downsides; the sturdy, physical connections of the past are much more reliable in the sorts of doomsday scenarios that might see a nuclear weapon launch. Much like the interior of a submarine, these facilities should strive to be as low-tech as possible, without sacrificing safety or performance.
As to the floppies, they seem to be performing fairly well. Though Ben Richmond at Motherboard notes the degradation of information as a reason to upgrade, those complaints mostly extend to micro-fiches and films. The magnetic storage of a floppy disk is really quite long-lasting comparatively — though it is fragile and in need of proper handling.
The distinct upside of this sort of technology is that it makes compatibility harder for the enemy. It’s harder to forge a format that’s been out of date for 20 years, and hard to hack something that was installed before the internet left the military’s research labs. The job has not changed dramatically since these systems were first put in place: wait for a call, validate the call, target the missile, launch. Technologies on the front end of the nuclear process, in target acquisition and tracking, and on the back end, in propulsion and destructive power, have progressed immensely in the past 30 years. In some cases, though, keys, padlocks, and rotary phones are more than enough.
The entire 60 Minutes segment is available for streaming, below
Now, of course upgrades will become necessary at some point, and frankly they really should upgrade that storage standard. However, simply maintaining the existing nuclear arsenal costs hundreds of billions per year. An across-the-board upgrade would be hard to justify at a time when nuclear fees are drawing eyes from the austerity crowd, and even usually pro-spending citizens rejoice at being able to put the costs of the Iraq War behind them. There are again forces calling for partial unilateral nuclear disarmament, if only because we no longer live in an era defined by the reach of nuclear bombs.
In the event of a nuclear catastrophe, it’s the satellites and smart-phones that will fail us. The rotary phones will be working just fine
People from all over the political spectrum are up in arms this week, following a 60 Minutes report on the state of the US nuclear arsenal. Particularly, the segment exposes the old and seemingly outdated technology that controls and underlies these most powerful of weapons. The phones are old, chunky physical types. The switch-boards have those big mechanical switches and flashy lights. And the paramount sin: Many of the records are kept on 8 inch floppy disks.
It’s an odd thing, to see the plans and security information for the most destructive technology in history in a form most people associate with Reader Rabbit and The Oregon Trail. Still, is this really so bad? Certainly, the first two are hardly downsides; the sturdy, physical connections of the past are much more reliable in the sorts of doomsday scenarios that might see a nuclear weapon launch. Much like the interior of a submarine, these facilities should strive to be as low-tech as possible, without sacrificing safety or performance.
As to the floppies, they seem to be performing fairly well. Though Ben Richmond at Motherboard notes the degradation of information as a reason to upgrade, those complaints mostly extend to micro-fiches and films. The magnetic storage of a floppy disk is really quite long-lasting comparatively — though it is fragile and in need of proper handling.
The distinct upside of this sort of technology is that it makes compatibility harder for the enemy. It’s harder to forge a format that’s been out of date for 20 years, and hard to hack something that was installed before the internet left the military’s research labs. The job has not changed dramatically since these systems were first put in place: wait for a call, validate the call, target the missile, launch. Technologies on the front end of the nuclear process, in target acquisition and tracking, and on the back end, in propulsion and destructive power, have progressed immensely in the past 30 years. In some cases, though, keys, padlocks, and rotary phones are more than enough.
The entire 60 Minutes segment is available for streaming, below
Now, of course upgrades will become necessary at some point, and frankly they really should upgrade that storage standard. However, simply maintaining the existing nuclear arsenal costs hundreds of billions per year. An across-the-board upgrade would be hard to justify at a time when nuclear fees are drawing eyes from the austerity crowd, and even usually pro-spending citizens rejoice at being able to put the costs of the Iraq War behind them. There are again forces calling for partial unilateral nuclear disarmament, if only because we no longer live in an era defined by the reach of nuclear bombs.
In the event of a nuclear catastrophe, it’s the satellites and smart-phones that will fail us. The rotary phones will be working just fine
