Five years after CBS publicized https://www.cbsnews.com/news/whos-minding-the-nuclear-weapons/ the fact that the Air Force still used eight-inch floppy disks to store data critical to operating the Air Force’s intercontinental ballistic missile command, the aerial and space warfare service branch decided it was time to officially retire them https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/10/air-force-finally-retires-8-inch-floppies-from-missile-launch-control-system/ .
The system, once called the Strategic Air Command Digital Network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Air_Command_Digital_Information_Network (SACDIN), relied on IBM Series/1 computers installed by the Air Force at Minuteman II missile sites in the 1960s and 1970s. Despite the contention by the Air Force at the time of the 60 Minutes report that the archaic hardware offered a cybersecurity advantage, the service has completed an upgrade to what is now known as the Strategic Automated Command and Control System (SACCS), as Defense News reports https://www.c4isrnet.com/air/2019/10/17/the-us-nuclear-forces-dr-strangelove-era-messaging-system-finally-got-rid-of-its-floppy-disks/. SAACS is an upgrade that swaps the floppy disk system for what Lt. Col. Jason Rossi, commander of the Air Force’s 595th Strategic Communications Squadron, described as a “highly secure solid state digital storage solution.” The floppy drives were fully retired in June.
But the IBM Series/1 computers remain, in part because of their reliability and security. And it’s not clear whether other upgrades to “modernize” the system have been completed. Air Force officials have acknowledged network upgrades that have enhanced the speed and capacity of SACCS’ communications systems, and a Government Accountability Office report in 2016 https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/677454.pdf noted that the Air Force planned to “update its data storage solutions, port expansion processors, portable terminals, and desktop terminals by the end of fiscal year 2017.” But it’s not clear how much of that has been completed.
Source: SlashDot.org https://tech.slashdot.org/story/19/10/18/2345209/air-force-finally-retires-8-inch-floppies-from-missile-launch-control-system