Anduril Industries, the defense technology company founded by Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, announced that it has partnered with Microsoft to develop a military-grade HoloLens 2-based AR headset, which the company is currently under contract with the U.S. Army.
The company says the Lattice platform, integrated with Microsoft's Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), will provide soldiers with real-time threat detection, looping data from sources such as unmanned aerial vehicles, ground vehicles or air defense systems to increase battlefield awareness and survivability. Wired writes.
As stated on the Anduril website, Lattice autonomously parses data from thousands of sensors and data sources into “an intelligent common operating picture in a single pane of glass” using a range of technologies including sensor fusion, computer vision, edge computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
“Soldiers wearing Lattice-enabled IVAS helmets are rapidly alerted to autonomously detected incoming airborne threats, increasing survivability in complex, contested environments,” Anduril said in a press release. “The integration of Anduril’s systems with third-party technologies will advance IVAS mission capabilities.”
Luckey, who was fired from Meta (formerly Facebook) in 2017 following backlash over his donation to a pro-Trump group, emphasized the importance of cooperation and drew attention to its potential to revolutionize military operations.
“This project is my top priority at Anduril and has been for some time. It’s one of the Army’s most critical programs that will be fielded in the near future, and the goal is to get the right data to the right people at the right time,” Luckey says. “This is Anduril’s bread and butter, and we’ve been building the backbone of it for years. I can’t wait to show our customers what’s next—I’m incredibly excited about what’s coming next.”
Luckey, in particular, announced earlier this summer that he was developing a new XR headset, and later revealed at AWE 2024 in June that the headset would be “driven by military requirements, but also be used for non-military purposes.” We still haven’t seen that headset.
Microsoft Has Trouble Scaling IVAS
Microsoft's HoloLens 2-based IVAS has faced a series of challenges since it won its first $22 billion U.S. Army defense contract in 2019.
Accordingly Breaking the Defense, In 2019, the Pentagon’s test arm reported that the first units received poor scores in initial field tests, largely due to reliability and ruggedness concerns, specifically citing a lack of rain resistance. At the time, IVAS was apparently based on off-the-shelf units that had been augmented with additional sensors.
In 2022, newer, more durable versions reportedly underwent another round of negative field tests due to issues with the device’s low-light and thermal imaging performance, as well as soldiers experiencing headaches, eyestrain and nausea.
Later in 2023, versions 1.2 of IVAS demonstrated critical improvements in “reliability, low-light sensor performance and form factor,” a U.S. Army spokesman said. Bloomberg He also noted at the time that “feedback from soldiers was positive.”
Yet the US Army has not ordered Microsoft to expand its IVAS efforts, despite continued improvements that include replacing the 1.2's helmet-style form factor with a less bulky, flip-up display, reducing the 70-degree field of view to 60 degrees but providing better clarity.
Additionally, in a recently published report; Breaking the Defense He suggests that the U.S. Army is preparing a new open competition called “IVAS Next,” which would mean that Microsoft's IVAS could be completely replaced if it's out-competed by other manufacturers like Kopin—or if Anduril decides to join. Industry demand could come later this year, Breaking the Defense According to reports, we may be able to learn more then.