We’re talking about game controllers. The Xbox 360 controller, specifically (the military made this decision in 2017, when more modern controllers existed, but the 360 one is good enough and is famously durable). Most personnel on a sub already know how to use gamepads, so when they switched to them, training became incredibly easy. A $25 controller also costs a bit less than the traditional $38,000 sub controls—though this was just a side benefit, since $38,000 isn’t a major expense for the military, certainly not aboard a $3 billion submarine.
Sadly for those who picture warfare as a game, we haven’t yet hooked the Xbox controller to the sub’s weapons systems. For now, firing the sub’s nukes still takes more than just a pull of the right trigger.
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Top image: US Navy