Bonum Certa Men Certa

Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) Do Not Run Windows

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Oct 04, 2024

West gate of Liberty Plaza, Taipei, Taiwan

The projects that deal with ICBMs are extremely unlikely to involve Microsoft

Yesterday we published "Wikileaks Revelations About the History of IBM and Its Role in the Cold War" just to remind people of IBM's role in ICBM contracts. There's a reason we often call IBM "ICBM" instead.

Earlier on today, worldwide conflicts were mentioned (there are about two dozen; Ukraine is only one). It was noted in passing that China is dumping Windows and a conflict near Taiwan seems imminent (maybe Japan too will get dragged into it, at least judging by recent tensions in the strait and some intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests* on the eastern side).

I've attempted to find out what operating systems run on ICBMs, knowing that their development tends to be secretive. As they use navigation systems one can be sure there is some complex onboard system. Years ago it was reported in the mainstream press that due to American drones using Windows Iran managed to crack some of them and take them down (crash them). Then, the US moved to Linux and American drones have run Linux since. As for Iran, Stuxnet taught the autocracy what it means to use Windows in production of weapons.

Perhaps it will remain a mystery what China, India, Russia, the US, Iran and North Korea (among others) use in their long-range cruise missiles and ICBMs. I spent some time searching the Web for answers, to no avail. Pretty much as expected right from the start.

Windows is unfit for purpose. It kills people. An associate has just reminded us: "There are no longer any mainstream articles tying networks of compromised Windows units to DDoS and DDoS-as-a-Service attacks. The articles which do address DDoS seem to treat them as just forming out of the air rather than having an actual cause: the presence of Windows on the network."

Budgets allocated to military projects and especially nukes/ICBMs are enormous, so it seems highly unlikely that Microsoft is used in any of these operations in any country in the world. But we're mostly guessing here. These projects tend to be highly classified for understandable reasons and fast-moving weapons typically use some RTOS, which Linux isn't.

________

* Charts show that since 2017 China has had Mach 25 weapons, whose kinetic energy alone (not explosion) is immense; those can travel almost 10 kilometers per second or 500 kilometers per minute.

ypersonic speed

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 23, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 23, 2024
[Meme] GAFAMfox
Mozilla Firefox in a state of extreme distress
Google Can Kill Mozilla Any Time It Wants
That gives Google far too much power over its rival... There are already many sites that refuse to work with Firefox or explicitly say Firefox isn't supported
Free (as in Freedom) Software Helps Tackle the Software Liability Issue, It Lets Users Exercise Greater Control Over Programs
Microsofters have been trying to ban or exclude Free software
In the US, Patent Laws Are Up for Sale
This problem is a lot bigger than just patents
ESET Finds Rootkits, Does Not Explain How They Get Installed, Media Says It Means "Previously Unknown Linux Backdoors" (Useful Distraction From CALEA and CALEA2)
FUD watch
Techdirt Loses Its Objectivity in Pursuit of Money
The more concerning aspects are coverage of GAFAM and Microsoft in particular
Techrights' Statement on Code of Censorship (CoC) and Kent Overstreet: This Was the Real Purpose of Censorship Agreements All Along
Bombing people is OK (if you sponsor the key organisations), opposing bombings is not (a CoC in a nutshell)
Links 23/11/2024: Press Sold to Vultures, New LLM Blunders
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Relationship with Oneself" and Yretek.com is Back
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Real World" Cracked and UK Online Safety Act is Law
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: Celebrating Proprietary Bluesky (False Choice, Same Issues) and Software Patents Squashed
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 22, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 22, 2024
Gemini Links 23/11/2024: 150 Day Streak in Duolingo and ICBMs
Links for the day
Links 22/11/2024: Dynamic Pricing Practice and Monopoly Abuses
Links for the day
Topics We Lacked Time to Cover
Due to a Microsoft event (an annual malware fest for lobbying and marketing purposes) there was also a lot of Microsoft propaganda
Microsofters Try to Defund the Free Software Foundation (by Attacking Its Founder This Week) and They Tell People to Instead Give Money to Microsoft Front Groups
Microsoft people try to outspend their critics and harass them
[Meme] EPO for the Kids' Future (or Lack of It)
Patents can last two decades and grow with (or catch up with) the kids
EPO Education: Workers Resort to Legal Actions (Many Cases) Against the Administration
At the moment the casualties of EPO corruption include the EPO's own staff
Gemini Links 22/11/2024: ChromeOS, Search Engines, Regular Expressions
Links for the day
This Month is the 11th Month of This Year With Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (So Far It's Happening Every Month This Year, More Announced Hours Ago)
Now they even admit it
Links 22/11/2024: Software Patents Squashed, Russia Starts Using ICBMs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 21, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, November 21, 2024