Originally Posted by
Speed of Sound
How long do you believe that new aircraft systems can continue to be run on x286-based 16 bit processing?
Another 30 years probably.....
Much more than 30 years.
The last commercial B737NG went off the assembly line only in the last few weeks, and they're still building P-8A & E-7 airframes that are B737NG-based.
Boeing hope to build at least another 4,000 B737-8, -9 & -10 and possibly a few -7 too and unless they get a complete new FCC they'll all be running "x286-based 16 bit processing". At 60/month that's another 5 to 6 years production, and a reasonable proportion of them should last at least thirty years.
So if everything goes to Boeing's plans, airframes will be flying that good old early-1980s technology until the 2050s or 2060s.
Horrifying to contemplate