You would think that floppy disks are long gone, but they are used much more often than you would think. But that probably won’t last long.
In January 2024, the Japanese government said it would take action to end a decades-old practice of requiring companies to submit additional data on floppy disks (or CD-ROMs). Then in July 2024, Japan’s Digital Agency announced that it had successfully abolished 1,034 regulations governing the use of floppy disks. Taro Kono, Japan’s minister for digital transformation and head of the Digital Agency, grandly announced: “We won the war against floppy disks on June 28!”
Now, Eyelids reports that the German Navy plans 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 put into service between 1994 and 1996, when floppy disks were the pinnacle of storage. Diskette 1 floppy media can store between 242,944 bytes and 1.2 MB (depending on the version) and is used in the frigates’ data acquisition systems.
Battle Station Emulation
Saab recently signed a contract with the German Federal Office for Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) to supply and install new naval radars and fire control directors for the German F123 frigates, including a new battle management system. The data acquisition system, for which the floppy drives are used, is a separate part of the upgrade process and is not being handled by Saab.
Eyelids reports that the system “is an essential part of controlling the actual ship functions of a frigate. Although it has nothing to do with the weapons systems, it is important for controlling the propulsion or energy generation, because the operational parameters have to be recorded.”
To avoid replacing the entire measurement technology, the Navy has the choice of either keeping the existing storage media or finding an emulation replacement that works as if it were a floppy disk drive. BAAINBw is currently looking for a supplier for the latter option.
The continued use of floppy disks highlights the challenge of modernizing legacy systems in critical operations. While new technologies offer vast improvements, the cost and complexity of overhauling established systems can often be prohibitive. Emulation solutions provide a middle ground, allowing incremental updates without the need for extensive hardware changes.
