Zahlen, bitte! Saved $38,000 with Xbox control

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Gamification in a different way: With commercially available game controllers, not only can console games be played precisely, but periscopes, military drones, or even robots can now be controlled.

The military sees several advantages in this: instead of a complex control solution that requires a lot of training, it is much easier for soldiers to learn an operating concept on a control device that they know from gaming at home.

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True to the motto: The nerds who play Xbox can also control the optical mast of a 2.6 billion US dollar submarine.

Control alternative for submarine camera masts

The controller control first became known to a wider audience in 2017, when the US Navy announced that a special control system would be used in the new US Virginia-class submarines. The nuclear submarines have been in service since 2004 and are gradually replacing their predecessors from the Los Angeles and Seawolf classes. The submarines are 115 meters long, 10.4 meters wide, and 9.5 meters high. They have a displacement of 7925 tons.

It was announced that the two BVS-1 optronic masts, which are used instead of the classic, bulky periscopes, would be controlled by an Xbox 360 controller. The new mast systems thus changed a more than hundred-year-old installation tradition: Previously, as in movies, the captain had to look into a tube protruding into the interior and painstakingly turn it to explore the surroundings with optics. Now, in the new systems, compact camera masts were electronically controlled, and the view was displayed on screens. However, the difficult control system drew criticism.

"The Navy gathered a group of non-commissioned officers and young sailors and asked, 'What can we do to improve your lives?'", Lt. j.g. Kyle Leonard told the US Navy magazine "All Hands". In response, the soldiers stated that the "Photonic Mast Handgrip and Imaging Control Panel" – the previous control system for the masts, which was based on helicopter joysticks – was not very ergonomic and difficult to learn.

After the survey, developers from Lockheed Martin and the US Navy developed a control concept with Xbox 360 controllers in a secret research laboratory in Manassas, which is the submarine equivalent of Area 51. Even during the tests in the laboratory, it became clear how sensitive the change was: The soldiers had mastered the control and the use of filters and additional functions within a few minutes – in contrast to the previous optronic control, which required hours of instruction.

Enormous cost savings

With the replacement controller, the army also saves costs: According to its own statements, the control unit for steering the two optronic masts costs over 38,000 US dollars. In comparison, a commercially available Xbox controller for around 30 US dollars is a bargain, and can also be reordered on any shore leave at a well-stocked electronics store. Of course, the controllers are only used via cable and not via the vulnerable and error-prone Bluetooth interface.

The Xbox controller is not only used in submarines. The US Army also uses it to control special robots and drones, according to the motto: "If you can play Xbox, you can control our drones." According to media reports, Xbox controllers were also a topic in a job advertisement by the British Army as early as 2008: drone pilots were sought. In the Ukraine war, the controllers are also in use. Furthermore, an Xbox control system is integrated into the Israeli Carmel tank.

Military in-house development with similar operating concept

A military further development, whose operating concept strikingly resembles gaming controllers, is also the Freedom of Movement Control Unit (FMCU); however, you won't find that easily in a gaming store.

But it's not just the military that appreciates the simplicity of the gamepad concept. The submarine Titan, which imploded in June 2023 on its way to the Titanic wreck, was controlled by a commercially available Logitech gamepad. Ironically, Xbox controllers were also used for control during the search for the missing submarine.

The form of gamification of war equipment is also viewed critically, as the Russian mercenary group Wagner sought applicants with a „gaming background“ for the drone attack war against Ukraine in 2023. War is certainly not a game.

(mawi)