America's feared nuclear missiles still controlled by computers from 1960s & floppy disks

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614323/Americas-feared-nuclear-missile-facilities-controlled-computers-1960s-floppy-disks.html#ixzz307Xe1vML ^ | 27 April 2014 | By Joel Christie

[dennisw]

America's feared nuclear missile facilities are still controlled by computers from the 1960s and floppy disks

60 Minutes received a tour of the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the storage facility of 450 nuclear warheads and a Minuteman III missile The facility was built in the 1960s to withstand a nuclear attack and alot of its equipment dates back to that time The floppy disks that contain the missile launch codes are safe and effective because it allows center to stay disconnected from the internet and prevent cyber terrorism, the military claims Tour comes in the wake of a major cheating scandal that has implicated 91 Air Force nuclear missile officers, nine of which were fired

The isolated U.S. military silo that contains one of deadliest nuclear arsenals in the world - some 450 warheads that are each 20 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima - is being controlled by computers dating back to 1960s and a launch system that relies on floppy disks.

But security officials maintain their methods are not only functional but hack-free, with the underground control room in Wyoming not connected to the internet, stopping any cyber terrorists gaining control over the weapons.

60 Minutes gained access to the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne and will broadcast its full report from the facility tonight.

CBS Correspondent Lesley Stahl said she believed the unprecedented invitation to take a look inside was part of a move by the military to show the public their system was safe in the wake of a widespread cheating scandal among their ranks.

[Nowhere Man]

Nothing wrong with old technology if it works. And if it’s not connected to the internet then someone has to exploit it the old fashioned way....send in actual people to do the dirty work.

Agreed, plus is does not take much computing power to launch and navigate a missile or rocket to take the course it is assigned to. You could probably do that with a computer using only 4K of RAM, maybe even less.

[RalphB]

I served as a Missile Combat Crew Member at FE Warren in the 80’s. If I remember correctly the Launch Control Centers had a piece of equipment called a Memory Control Group that was used for data storage. It had all of 64KB of memory! The missiles had pre-designated target data, if you had to change this data, you would have to enter the new data into a keyboard. Needless to say, if you effed this up you were a assessed a critical error! Our comm gear was garbage too, if you’ve ever seen the movie “Crimson Tide” they sent a messsage via the Survivable Low Frequency System (SLFCS), we use to code this damned thing up to encrypt messages using a stylus! The equipment we used back then was archaic, I can only imagine what it’s like now.

[Fresh Wind]

Ahhh, the “click of death”. I remember it well.

[SamAdams76]

[bobby.223]

“General, the machine has locked us out! It is sending random numbers to the silos!” “Well, just unplug the goddamn thing!”

[EEGator]

Yep, good eye.

[EEGator]

You always beat me. Kudos.

[catnipman]

This kind of ancient technology is probably almost impossible to hack, internet or no internet. Binary assembly code, and who knows if the source is even available. I remember guys debugging operating systems on CDC 7600 “supercomputers” by attaching homemade hardware rigs to register units to figure out why their code didn’t work.

[a fool in paradise]

What difference does it make?

Obama has already taken their use “off the table” and he’s guiding America towards a plan of ZERO nuclear weapons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onjZs0jciSg

[Nowhere Man]

I served as a Missile Combat Crew Member at FE Warren in the 80’s. If I remember correctly the Launch Control Centers had a piece of equipment called a Memory Control Group that was used for data storage. It had all of 64KB of memory! The missiles had pre-designated target data, if you had to change this data, you would have to enter the new data into a keyboard. Needless to say, if you effed this up you were a assessed a critical error! Our comm gear was garbage too, if you’ve ever seen the movie “Crimson Tide” they sent a messsage via the Survivable Low Frequency System (SLFCS), we use to code this damned thing up to encrypt messages using a stylus! The equipment we used back then was archaic, I can only imagine what it’s like now.

I wonder too. 64K, probably an 8-bit computer, that was the maximum RAM for an 8-bit system. I've been aboard a 707 Navy command post, the E-6 IIRC, and they still use equipment they used back in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[Nowhere Man]

This kind of ancient technology is probably almost impossible to hack, internet or no internet. Binary assembly code, and who knows if the source is even available. I remember guys debugging operating systems on CDC 7600 “supercomputers” by attaching homemade hardware rigs to register units to figure out why their code didn’t work.

IIRC, I think they used the CDC 7600 to make computer graphics for the TV networks back in the 1970's. There was a rotating "N" for NBC in the mid 1970's that they used a CDC 7600 to make it with. It had a main processor and up to 12 subprocessors, an interesting and capable machine but it was water cooled.

[Nowhere Man]

Ah, the old Sierra Online games. Reminds me of Leisure Suit Larry.

[catnipman]

“It had a main processor and up to 12 subprocessors, an interesting and capable machine but it was water cooled.”

Yep, and it was shaped like a hollow box with a door-like opening in the middle of one side. You could walk inside of it and see the backpanel wiring on the inside of the box. The inside was big enough you could sit two people inside with a tiny table and have a (chilly) picnic.

And iPad probably has more computing power than that now.