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Military has phased out the use of floppy disks to coordinate nuclear launches
Washington Times ^ | 18 October 2019 | Bailey Vogt

Posted on 10/18/2019 7:25:22 AM PDT by ShadowAce

The military announced Thursday it has retired the 8-inch floppy disks that were used to receive a presidential order to fire nuclear missiles.

Lt. Col. Jason Rossi told c4isrnet.com that it has retired the floppy disks used on its dated 1970s computer with a “highly-secure solid-state digital storage solution.”

The computer — called Strategic Automated Command and Control System, or SACCS — is an old system designed to receive nuclear force action messages and is considered unhackable because it predates the creation of the internet.

“You can’t hack something that doesn’t have an IP address. It’s a very unique system — it is old, and it is very good,” Mr. Rossi said.

The Department of Defense said in 2016 it would replace the SACCS computer and “update its data storage solutions, port expansion processors, portable terminals, and desktop terminals by the end of fiscal year 2017.”

The Air Force hasn’t shared whether it followed through on that promise.

While the system is old, the Air Force believes the age of the system makes nuclear launches safer, and a new computer system could jeopardize that.

“You have to be able to certify that an adversary can’t take control of that weapon, that the weapon will be able to do what it’s supposed to do when you call on it,” said Dr. Werner J.A. Dahm, chair of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, back in 2016.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: military
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To: ShadowAce
The sarcasm about the old system is largely unwarranted. The SACCS was used uniformly with all SAC assets, airplanes and missiles. It worked.

I did maintenance on the Minuteman III for 8 years in the 70's and 80's and it was the same system. It was solid and SIMPLE. It was not tied to the internet in any way, couldn't be hacked, was survivable in an EMP environment and had good checks and balances with human interfaces. The only real reason to leave it behind is that it is impossible to get 5 1/4 in disks anymore.

41 posted on 10/18/2019 9:24:48 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Lol, I was curious about that too! Another fantastic use of taxpayer’s money... It never ends...


42 posted on 10/18/2019 9:29:37 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: RJS1950

In 2006 the Mk 12 R/S test set that I used in 1972 was still in use at VAFB.


43 posted on 10/18/2019 9:50:24 AM PDT by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
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To: ShadowAce
Yeah, Baby! I have a few of those floating around. Kids freak out when I show them.

44 posted on 10/18/2019 9:57:44 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault (Kill-googl,TWTR,FCBK,NYT,WaPo,Hlwd,CNN,NFL,BLM,CAIR,Antfa,SPLC,ESPN,NPR,NBA,ARP)
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To: BobL
Sounds like some millennial convinced them to use the Internet (along with GPS) for our national defense.

We've been using the Internet (and especially GPS) for our national defense for a long time now.

45 posted on 10/18/2019 10:05:10 AM PDT by Future Snake Eater (Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. - Dwight Eisenhower, 1957)
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To: duckman

Same here i was a field service IT guy back in the late 90’s early 2000’s.
Been to MANY corporations here in MA and by far the most backwards old tech places were government offices i visited.
IRS, Secret Service, FBI, Social security, local police, jails, prisons, etc.
OLD filthy crappy machines...unbelievable.
You see all this high tech stuff on all these cop shows?
Don’t believe it.


46 posted on 10/18/2019 10:18:45 AM PDT by mowowie
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To: Openurmind
Oh my god, Is this real? This totally destroys my confidence in high tech security keeping us safe. Anyone remember how little it took for these floppies to fail? This is something I would have kept a secret, little Kim is probably more up to date than this. lol

I work in nuclear command and control these days. Remember how long we've had these systems and understand how low their priority has been for modernization for both "if it works, then why change it?" and "security through obscurity" reasons.

47 posted on 10/18/2019 10:39:13 AM PDT by Future Snake Eater (Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. - Dwight Eisenhower, 1957)
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To: rdl6989; Whenifhow; null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

omg, I’ll donate my old winXPs if they need them..


48 posted on 10/18/2019 11:15:43 AM PDT by bitt
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To: Fresh Wind

worked great until the click of death ?


49 posted on 10/18/2019 11:39:00 AM PDT by stylin19a (2016 - Best.Election.Of.All.Times.Ever.In.The.History.Of.Ever)
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To: ShadowAce

They have replaced the 8” floppies with 5.25” floppies


50 posted on 10/18/2019 11:42:24 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: Future Snake Eater

Both were initially deployed for military use long before the general public could use them.


51 posted on 10/18/2019 12:43:48 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: Future Snake Eater

My concern was reaction times. Kind of like the difference of latency between a heliograph and smoke signals. Historically the difference was the determining factor in conflicts.


52 posted on 10/18/2019 1:12:29 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: lgjhn23
Now that I think it about it, they’re probably more reliable than a new thumb drive or SD card...LOL.

EMP proof, ya?

53 posted on 10/18/2019 1:42:21 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Elitist Liberals have no idea the hunger and strength of the beast they have uncaged.)
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To: stylin19a

Nope. The Click of Death was the so-called zip drives.

Those 20mb cartridges were rugged and trouble free.


54 posted on 10/18/2019 2:00:22 PM PDT by Fresh Wind (The Electoral College is the firewall protecting us from massive blue state vote fraud.)
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To: Openurmind

That more has to do with the decision-making and force direction functions. Once the decision is made, there’s time.

It’s pretty much all over for us at that point anyway.


55 posted on 10/18/2019 2:09:40 PM PDT by Future Snake Eater (Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. - Dwight Eisenhower, 1957)
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To: ShadowAce
You can’t hack something that doesn’t have an IP address.

He's got a point there.

56 posted on 10/18/2019 2:13:01 PM PDT by McGruff
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To: Fresh Wind

thanks...I had the zip drive :(


57 posted on 10/18/2019 2:26:07 PM PDT by stylin19a (2016 - Best.Election.Of.All.Times.Ever.In.The.History.Of.Ever)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

“Another mystery is WHERE would you be buying these in 2017?”

Defense contracts do it, but probably at a significant cost. DoD pays companies not to deprecate things. For one NORAD system, we paid HP to keep 32k magnetic core memory parts for us, and those things cost about $65k a piece well into the 1990’s.


58 posted on 10/18/2019 2:47:00 PM PDT by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Are!)
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To: BobL

“along with GPS”

Actually, GPS, called Navstar, was created for national defense and was in use long before civilians got to use it.


59 posted on 10/18/2019 2:48:17 PM PDT by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Are!)
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To: ShadowAce

OMG they were still using floppy discs, REALLY, LOL, LOL, LOL,


60 posted on 10/18/2019 2:49:03 PM PDT by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
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