Navy to Use Xbox Controllers

U.S Navy to Use Xbox 360 Controllers on Submarine Periscopes

Game controllers have piloted countless war recreations. Now it's time for the real thing.

U.S. Navy
 
By David Grossman

For years, Xbox 360 controllers have simulated war. Now they'll get to control the real thing, as the U.S. Navy plans to use them to operate periscopes aboard its newer submarines.

Newer Virginia-class submarines don't have traditional periscopes like those seen in movies such as The Hunt For Red October, where one person at a time peers through a periscope. Virginia subs have 2 photonics masts that rotate 360 degrees and are equipped with high-resolution cameras. Large monitors display these images for everyone in the control room to see.

Sailors had been using a helicopter style-joystick to spin this new periscope. But the joystick has not been a crew favorite. Lt. j.g. Kyle Leonard, the USS John Warner's assistant weapons officer, told the Virginian-Pilot that the Navy recently asked a number of junior officers and sailors what would make their lives easier, and many pointed to replacing the scope with something that's lighter and easier to use.


A photonics mast as seen above a submarine.
U.S Navy

Lockheed Martin has been working with the Navy on new ways to incorporate off-the-shelf products into the military. The hope is that by imitating and incorporating technology that members of the military grew up using, crews will be more efficient.

More than 25 million Xbox 360s have been sold in the United States since the gaming system's debut in 2005, so it makes sense in that regard. A 360 controller also only costs $30, compared to the current photonic mast handgrip and imaging control panel that cost about $38,000. Senior Chief Mark Eichenlaub, the John Warner's assistant navigator, told the Virginian-Pilot:

"That joystick is by no means cheap, and it is only designed to fit on a Virginia-class submarine. I can go to any video game store and procure an Xbox controller anywhere in the world, so it makes a very easy replacement."

The USS Colorado, which is expected to be commissioned in December, will be the first vessel to be equipped with the Xbox controllers. Eichenlaub believes it will only be the beginning. He tells the Virginian-Pilot:

"Ideally, what they want to see in 10 years down the road is, there's basically a glass panel display with windows, and you can just pull a window of information, review that, push it off, bring in the next window. They want to bring in sailors with what they have at home on their personal laptop, their personal desktop, what they grew up with in a classroom."

Source: Virginian-Pilot