The US military is poised to receive artificial intelligence-enhanced virtual and augmented reality headsets, following a joint venture between technology giant Meta and defence contractor Anduril Industries.

According to an announcement made May 29, the upcoming headsets will utilize Anduril’s AI-driven command and control system, Lattice. This system integrates real-time data from thousands of sources to provide soldiers with critical battlefield intelligence.

Anduril further elaborated that the device aims to grant soldiers “enhanced perception” and facilitate “intuitive control of autonomous platforms,” significantly enhancing their operational capabilities during missions.

“This integration will transform how warfighters see, sense, and integrate battlefield information, providing immersive technology solutions that enhance tactical decision-making in combat scenarios,” a spokesperson for Anduril noted.

The project’s funding is reportedly drawn from private capital, leveraging technologies primarily developed for commercial applications and adapted for military use.

Meta, formerly Facebook, initiated its ambitious metaverse project in October 2021. Since then, the company has invested approximately $40 billion in developing the underpinned VR and AR technologies for this virtual universe.

US Tech Giants Deepen Military Ties

Speaking May 29, Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey, also the co-founder of Oculus VR (acquired by Meta in 2014), stated,[x] “We have been working together on a variety of things for a while now, but the first one to go public will be EagleEye, the system I hope will go on to become the next Soldier Borne Mission Command for the Army.”

Microsoft had previously secured the initial contract in 2018 to develop AR headsets for the US military, specifically for the Soldier Borne Mission Command program. However, Microsoft recently announced that Anduril had assumed primary responsibility for this aspect of the program, though Microsoft will continue to provide cloud services.

The trend shows tech giants increasingly involved in military projects, not merely as hardware suppliers but also in critical technology development like AI integration. This collaboration between Luckey and Meta fits into a broader context of US military modernization efforts, utilizing commercially developed AI components for national defence purposes.

In November, Meta expanded access to its large language model, Llama, to the US military and defense contractors for national security applications, extending its technological reach into the defence sector.

Concurrently, AI firm Anthropic granted the US Defense department access to its Claude 3 and 3.5 AI models. Later, intelligence giant Palantir partnered with Microsoft to offer AI services to US defense and intelligence agencies.