@Spocko Try White Sands NM. It's been a few years since I last visited the facility but we're talking in the 20-teens and they were still using data reel-to-reel tape and punch cards. I was told it's because they never got the budget allocation to update their equipment, as in, ever. Odds are they're still using equipment that looks like that. Exactly.
@claralistensprechen5th. Interesting. I was thinking about The New York Times article on a "mysterious" transfer of $934 million that they claimed would be used to renovate the Boeing 747 plane Trump received as a gift from Qatar. The article cited unnamed Air Force sources who reportedly "privately" conceded that the Air Force was using funds originally meant for the Sentinel land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) project to pay for the renovation. snopes.com/news/2025/07/28/tru…
@Spocko I do believe you're onto something there. The thing is, the White Sands Missile Range has been requesting funds for updating since Lord knows when, every year, and never got it under any president.
That looks more like a TV studio to me; the thing at the bottom right looks like an early VCR and the layout of the monitors makes me think they were being used for vision mixing...
@Spocko Ya, a TV studio would be similar but those CRTs are too small--they're more likely oscilloscope displays, one per missile silo, and I'll wager no more than 4, the ones on the far right because it looks like there are also analog gauges involved as well as a computer that speaks in octal (as opposed to hexadecimal) and also controls go/no-go discreet logic gates. The set of 6 likely involve telemetry control. The reel-to-reel machines involve a larger central computer that also likely speaks octal, and that tape is for data storage.
vieuxnez
in reply to Spocko • • •Radio Free Trumpistan
in reply to Spocko • •Try White Sands NM.
It's been a few years since I last visited the facility but we're talking in the 20-teens and they were still using data reel-to-reel tape and punch cards. I was told it's because they never got the budget allocation to update their equipment, as in, ever. Odds are they're still using equipment that looks like that. Exactly.
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Spocko
in reply to Radio Free Trumpistan • • •The article cited unnamed Air Force sources who reportedly "privately" conceded that the Air Force was using funds originally meant for the Sentinel land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) project to pay for the renovation.
snopes.com/news/2025/07/28/tru…
Examining report Pentagon secretly transferred $934M to renovate Trump's new Air Force One
Laerke Christensen (Snopes.com)Radio Free Trumpistan
in reply to Spocko • •I do believe you're onto something there. The thing is, the White Sands Missile Range has been requesting funds for updating since Lord knows when, every year, and never got it under any president.
Chris Harris
in reply to Spocko • • •Radio Free Trumpistan
in reply to Spocko • •Ya, a TV studio would be similar but those CRTs are too small--they're more likely oscilloscope displays, one per missile silo, and I'll wager no more than 4, the ones on the far right because it looks like there are also analog gauges involved as well as a computer that speaks in octal (as opposed to hexadecimal) and also controls go/no-go discreet logic gates. The set of 6 likely involve telemetry control. The reel-to-reel machines involve a larger central computer that also likely speaks octal, and that tape is for data storage.
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