BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: The U.S. Navy Is Shrinking the Size of Its Gargantuan 70s-Era Computers.

The hardware used to run Aegis was large and took up a significant portion of the ship. According to C4ISRNET, the military-grade computer, servers, consoles, and displays were so large that the Navy needed to cut holes in the hulls of ships when it needed to replace them. These systems also had a considerable electrical draw on the ship’s power supply, and required air conditioning—and more power—to keep them cool. Built to be large and rugged, these computers have also in many cases not been replaced for decades.

For March’s missile test USS Hudner ran its Aegis hardware from what the Navy calls a “virtual twin,” a handful of modern computers in ruggedized boxes. Just as your iMac running the Mac operating system computer can run virtualization software to emulate a Linux computer, the virtual twin completely emulates Aegis’ computer system and software but in a much smaller package. Moore’s Law allows these computers to replicate the physically much larger set of Aegis computers originally fitted to Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers built in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.

“Much larger” is putting it lightly. Infographic of the original hardware at the link.