Military Adopts Xbox Controllers For Weapons And Drones

March 4, 2026 — Military units increasingly adopt commercial gaming hardware, notably Xbox controllers, to operate drones, remote weapons stations and submarine photonics masts, replacing costly custom controllers like a $38,000 periscope handset. The practice leverages over 100 million controllers in circulation, sees use by forces in Ukraine, and extends to console-forensics and GPU repurposing for cheaper supercomputing.