"If it isn't broken, don't fix it" — that phrase is basically a mantra in many environments, but if there's one that stands out for its adoption, it's the military. A decade ago we talked about the use of 8-inch floppy disks in nuclear silos of the US Air Force. Its definitive replacement arrived in 2019, but there's still a place for the classic floppy disk, and it's the German Navy. The F123 frigates use them in their data acquisition systems, and when evaluating replacements, the authorities are considering installing emulators.
The F123 frigates of the Brandenburg class were built between 1992 and 1996, replacing the Hamburg-class destroyers that were already considered obsolete in the '80s. With a total of four units, these frigates continue to operate alongside their successors, the F124 Sachsen class. Available information suggests that the entire Brandenburg class will continue service until at least 2028, when the first of the F126 frigates (Niedersachsen class) becomes a reality. That means one thing: Modernization.
Emulating 8-Inch Floppies, featuring the German Navy
One of the most striking aspects of F123 frigates is that they still use 8-inch floppy disks for their data acquisition systems (DAQ). These systems are involved in particularly delicate functions such as propulsion and power generation, but the storage medium was never replaced for reliability reasons.
Instead of completely eliminating its current DAQ system, the process will focus on the floppies themselves. The technical details are classified (logically), but we do know that Saab has been the company selected to modernize the F123 frigates, and that the general solution would essentially be to emulate the drives. To be honest, it's not far-fetched to imagine a more secure and "militarized" version of Gotek, widely used in all kinds of devices, from MIDI keyboards to textile machines.
The German frigates join San Francisco's transit system and the recent "victory" declared by the Japanese government over floppies, after eliminating more than 1,000 regulations that required their use.
Sources: Ars Technica, Tom's Hardware
