Military submarines are extremely complex vehicles. Each submarine uses a series of tricks to hide from enemy sonar, and nuclear-powered submarines can stay submerged for months producing their own oxygen. As such, they require more knobs and buttons than most seagoing vessels. These controls require funding and training, so the Navy decided to save time and money by using a video game controller to manage the modern equivalent of the periscope.
In 2018, the United States officially welcomed the USS Colorado into active service. The ship was the 15th Virginia-class submarine built for the Navy, but unlike its predecessors, Colorado does not implement traditional control systems to pilot its two photonic masts (high-tech sensors that have replaced old-fashioned periscopes). The Navy decided to install an Xbox controller, not the then-modern Xbox One controller; the Navy opted for the older (but more iconic) Xbox 360 controller. The reasoning behind this decision was twofold. First there is the price. Xbox 360 controllers cost around $30 at most, while a dedicated control panel would have cost around $38,000.
The Navy also decided to go with this controller because many crew members already have experience using it. The logic was that this prior knowledge would reduce practice time from hours to minutes – around the same time that most players need to understand control schemes in new games. The controller is also not as bulky and heavy as the original Photonic Mast controls would have been. The Navy went ahead and adopted this Xbox 360 control system for later Virginia-class submarines, including the USS Indiana.
The origins of the Xbox-controlled photonic mast
The idea of ​​replacing intrusive controls with Xbox controllers didn’t arise out of the ether. The original concept originated from the test laboratory known as “Area 51” (not to be confused with Nevada’s Area 51), where Lockheed Martin and the US Navy tested commercial software and hardware and their applications in Virginia-class submarines. There, researchers tried all sorts of control systems, including tablets, touch tables, and even the Microsoft Kinect (perhaps one of the smartest uses of an old Kinect).
The laboratory’s motto was simple: “How to integrate what already works?” » So they opted for technology that has played a defining role in the lives of many modern soldiers. Now, you might think that using an old Xbox controller for military technology is a novel idea, but that’s not the case. You know what they say: great minds think alike. The US military also uses Xbox 360 controllers to fly small unmanned ground vehicles (SUGVs) and even flying drones – even more cool things you didn’t know Xbox controllers could do.
However, the Department of Defense has its own controller-like device, the Freedom of Movement Control Unit (FMCU). This device resembles a sturdy, bulky third-party Xbox controller with additional buttons and has been integrated into systems such as the Maneuver-Short Range air defense vehicle. However, with the rise of autonomous drones, who knows how much longer they will have?
