The agency wants to upgrade to Windows 10 by March 31

Feb 16, 2018 06:00 GMT  ·  By

The United States Air Force must upgrade all computers to Windows 10 by March 31 this year, and every single system that won’t be running Microsoft’s latest OS when the deadline is reached will be quarantined.

In an announcement today, the US Air Force provides guidance for Airmen in order to upgrade systems to Windows 10, praising the security features of the operating system and highlighting the efforts to migrate all machines before the end of March.

“The Windows 10 migration is critical to Air Force readiness,” said Lt. Col. Brian Snyder, Windows 10 lead action officer, cyberspace strategy and policy.

“It introduces a number of new security features; making it the most secure Windows version to date. Additionally, base and organizational leadership must ensure communication/cyber squadrons are provided all the support and availability necessary to guarantee success.”

“Many systems can’t run Windows 10”

While no specifics were provided on how exactly Windows 10 is going to protect US Air Force employees, the agency says the operating system “will have a positive security impact” on several DoD special access programs, mission systems, and strategic, tactical, and research, development, testing and evaluation systems.

Microsoft and the United States Department of Defense signed a partnership in February 2016 to upgrade no less than 4 million machines to Windows 10.

The transition, however, is happening slower than expected due to the fact that not all systems can be upgraded to Windows 10 due to hardware limitations and software incompatibilities. The US Air Force, however, says that computers were Windows 10 can’t be installed will be completely quarantined and denied access to the network, thus avoiding any possible exploits that would be facilitated by older versions of Windows.

The US Air Force hasn’t said how many systems can’t run Windows 10, but their memo claimed the operating system “is not compatible with many systems” (emphasis is ours).