The German Navy still uses 8-inch floppy disks and is working on an imitation replacement

The German Navy is modernizing its Brandenburg-class frigates, the F123. This means that they will no longer be dependent on 8-inch floppy disks.

The F123 frigates use floppy disks for their onboard data acquisition (DAQ) systems, as noted by Tom's Hardware on Thursday. Augen geradeaus!, a German defense and security policy blog by journalist Thomas Wiegold, notes that DAQs are important for operating the frigates, including power generation, “because the operational parameters have to be recorded,” according to a Google translation. The ships themselves specialize in anti-submarine warfare and air defense.

Earlier this month, Augen geradeaus! saw a service tender published on June 21 by the German Federal Office for Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) to modernize the German Navy's four F123 frigates. The ships were in service from October 1994 to December 1996. As noted by German IT news outlet Heise, the continued use of 8-inch floppies, despite modern alternatives having been available for years, “has to do with the fact that established systems are considered more reliable.”

Rather than overhauling the entire DAQ, the government plans to develop and integrate an onboard emulation system to replace floppy disks. This differs from the approach taken by the U.S. Air Force. In 2019, the U.S. military branch replaced the 8-inch floppies used to store data used to operate its intercontinental ballistic missile command, control and communications network with solid state drives (SSDs).

The BAAINBw hired Saab for F123 updates. In July 2021, Saab announced it had won a contract to “supply and integrate new naval radars and fire control directors for and into the German Navy’s F123s,” with the work including “a new combat management system to completely overhaul the system currently used on the F123, enabling low-risk integration of the new naval radars and fire control capabilities.” The Swedish company said the deal was worth about SEK 4.6 billion (approximately $436,748,840).

According to the BAAINBw tender, the replacement of the floppy disks is expected to begin on October 1 and end on July 31, 2025. The F123 frigates will remain in service until the F126s are available, which is expected to be between 2028 and 2031.

Further details, such as how exactly Saab will replace the floppies, are confidential. As noted by Tom's Hardware, there are several options for floppy disk emulation, including devices from brands like Gotek that are popular among enthusiasts.

Floppies keep flopping

To the average person, floppy disks are obsolete, but government agencies with established and successful systems have been much slower to abandon the old storage medium. In addition to the German Navy and the U.S. Air Force, Japan officially stopped using floppy disks in government systems just last month. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency plans to use 5¼-inch floppies to power San Francisco’s Muni Metro light rail system through 2030.

Floppy disks are also still used in various industries to run machines that have been in use for a long time. For example, Chuck E. Cheese did this for animatronics in 2023 and professional embroiderers do this with embroidery machines.