US Navy is introducing Xbox controllers on new submarines

In a move envisioned to bring more efficiency at a lower cost, the US Navy will have its sailors use Xbox controllers on future Virginia-class submarines.

The video game controllers will be controlling the two photonic masts that provide submariners with a 360 degree real-time situational awareness above the water.

The idea to use the cheap controllers sprung up several years ago when the US Navy and defense technology contractor Lockheed Martin created a classified lab in which they evaluated how commercial software and hardware could be applied to Los Angeles and Virginia-class submarine control rooms and wardrooms.

Once the Xbox controller becomes “operational”, the US Navy will be saving some $38,000 on every boat as this is what a photonic mast handgrip and imaging control panel used on current boats costs.

According to the Virginian Pilot, who first reported the news, the US Navy will begin using the Xbox controller with the future USS Colorado which is set to be commissioned by November this year. Submarines already in the fleet will receive the controllers during their regular modernization works.

The original mast handgrips were based on helicopter joysticks, which were expensive, heavy and not so popular among sailors. According to Lockheed Martin whose engineers programmed an Xbox controller to interface with the imaging control panel, the sailors who test drove the technology were able to control the periscope within minutes without any training.

In addition to commercial controllers, the US Navy is working on combining more off the shelf technology with its advanced systems. Another idea currently in the works is a touch-screen command table. It remains to be seen when the spill proof digital table will replace the legacy workstation used by submarine commanders.

Above the sea level, on its aircraft carriers, the US Navy is already testing touchscreen technology that would replace a tool used by handlers to track the movements of aircraft and equipment on the flight deck. Informally called a “Ouija board”—a waist-high, six-feet-long physical replica of the deck, the tool is to be replaced by the Deployable Ship Integration Multitouch System which will enable aircraft handlers to change flight deck configurations anywhere on the ship, using their fingertips or a computer mouse to move around digital aircraft.