X-box Controller introduced in the US Navy Submarine

The latest journey to defend the country has just begun with USS Colorado, US Navy’s Virginia class submarine going into service on Saturday 17th March, from Naval Submarine base Connecticut.

The state of Colorado has been introduced as an official naval asset after the event.

The 377-foot-long sub weighs about 7,800 tons submerged and can fight submarines and surface ships, conduct surveillance and deliver special operation troops. The submarine also has two large tubes that can launch 6 Tomahawk missiles each.

An added new unconventional piece of equipment to the submarine is the X-Box 360 controller, which has swapped out the use of heavy and clunky “Helicopter style stick”, used to control the photonic masts, which feeds the monitor of the ships control room with high-resolution imagery.

Colorado is the first attack submarine where sailors use an Xbox controller and, the use of off-the-shelf technology has saved the Navy a lot of money, besides the controller is already intuitive to the sailors which make the task easier.

The reason behind using an Xbox controller is to make the job easier, since, the generation is already trained up in their use.

Attack submarines are built in a partnership between General Dynamics Electric Boat in Connecticut and Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. They cost about $2.7 billion apiece.

“The submarine is ready to protect the homeland and project our power forward”, says Cmdr Reed Koepp, Colorado’s commanding officer.