Subj : First it was Japan  now the German navy is also stamping out flop
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Sat Jul 13 2024 21:45:05

First it was Japan  now the German navy is also stamping out floppy disks for 
good

Date:
Sat, 13 Jul 2024 20:30:13 +0000

Description:
The German navy is updating its anti-submarine Brandenburg class F123 
frigates so they won't rely on floppy disks.

FULL STORY
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Youd be forgiven for thinking that floppy disks had long gone the way of the 
dodo, but actually their use is more common than you might imagine - but 
perhaps not for much longer. 

Back in January 2024, the Japanese government said it would be taking action 
to abandon a decades-old practice of insisting businesses must submit 
supplementary data on floppies (or CD-Roms). Following that, in July 2024, 
Japans Digital Agency declared it had successfully abolished 1,034 
regulations governing the use of floppy disks. Taro Kono, Japans Minister for 
Digital Transformation and the head of the Digital Agency, announced grandly, 
 We have won the war on floppy disks on June 28!  

Now, Augen Geradeaus reports the German Navy is looking to follow suit and 
replace the floppy drives used on its four Brandenburg class F123 frigates 
with a modern emulated solution. These anti-submarine frigates were 
commissioned between 1994 and 1996, when floppy disks were the height of 
storage. Diskette 1 floppy media can store between 242,944 bytes and 1.2MB 
(depending on the version) and is used in frigates data acquisition systems. 
Emulation battle stations 

Saab recently signed a contract with the German Federal Office of Bundeswehr 
Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) to deliver 
and fit new naval radars and fire control directors for the F123 German 
frigates, including a new combat management system. The data acquisition 
system, for which the floppy drives are used, is a separate part of the 
upgrade process and won't be handled by Saab. 

 Augen Geradeaus reports the system "is an essential part of controlling the 
actual ship functions of a frigate. Although it has nothing to do with the 
weapon systems, it is important for controlling the drive or power generation 
because the operating parameters have to be recorded." 

In order to avoid replacing the entire measuring technology, the Navy has the 
choice of leaving the existing storage media in place or finding an emulation 
replacement that acts as if it were a floppy disk drive. BAAINBw is currently 
looking for a supplier for the latter option. 

The persistence of floppy disk use highlights the challenge of modernizing 
legacy systems in critical operations. While new technologies offer vast 
improvements, the cost and complexity of overhauling entrenched systems can 
often be prohibitive. Emulation solutions provide a middle ground, allowing 
for incremental updates without the need for extensive hardware changes. More 
from TechRadar Pro These are the best hard drives out there right now We've 
rounded up the best cloud storage options around Worlds highest-capacity 
microSD card can store more than one million floppy disks



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/first-it-was-japan-now-the-german-navy-is-also-s
tamping-out-floppy-disks-for-good


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