Microsoft wins $22 billion US Army contract for augmented reality gear
Apple, Google, and Facebook are among the tech titans investing in mixed reality.
April 1, 2021 04:57 BST
Microsoft has won a Pentagon contract for augmented reality headgear for soldiers worth $21.88 billion over the next decade, the company and the US military announced Wednesday.
The headsets, based on commercially available HoloLens, will make soldiers safer and more effective, according to Microsoft technical fellow Alex Kipman.
The Department of Defense (DoD) said the production agreement is for five years with a renewal option that could make the contract worth in excess of $21.88 billion over 10 years, a Pentagon official said in a statement.
Dubbed the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), the headset is a unique deployment for Microsoft’s business-centric AR device, which is ordinarily supplied to customers for training and guidance purposes.
Launched in 2019, the HoloLens 2 allows users to interact with three-dimensional holograms and popups through gestures, making it ideal for use by engineers and even medical staff.
The US Army’s IVAS devices, however, integrate high-resolution night and thermal vision, as well as additional sensors, into a heads-up display (HUD). This, the US military has claimed, will provide situational awareness, target engagement functionality, and more informed decision-making for troops.
“This award transitions IVAS to production and rapid fielding to deliver next-generation night vision and situational awareness capabilities to the Close Combat Force (CCF) at the speed of relevance,” said the US Army.
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