According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Army placed an order with Microsoft for another batch of advanced mixed-reality glasses for combat.
Microsoft sent 20 sets of updated prototype glasses to the U.S. military in late July, and they were tested by two squads of soldiers in August, who praised the design improvements: mainly that they no longer felt nausea and pain when wearing them.
Last year, Microsoft partnered with the U.S. Army to develop HoloLens-like mixed reality glasses called the Integrated Vision Augmentation System (IVAS), but reports in early 2022 suggested the glasses were causing headaches, nausea, and eye strain to soldiers in tests. The glasses in question are part of an order for 5,000 sets that the Army will begin receiving in September 2022.
U.S. military spokesman David Patterson said the new glasses are now available in version 1.2, which has “improvements in reliability, low-light sensor performance and form factor.” The Army awarded Microsoft another contract for a new system on Sept. 5 and is examining whether the company can expand production.
The Army had asked Congress to fund the purchase of 6,900 glasses from Microsoft but was rejected earlier this year. Instead, Congress reduced the $400 million the Army requested to just $40 million to improve the system. The Army provided Microsoft with the funding and an additional $125 million to continue development.
The U.S. Army plans to spend up to $21.9 billion on the project, and the glasses will be tested by the Army for combat use in 2025. Microsoft’s HoloLens technology continues to live on in these special military glasses, while use cases for these glasses at home and in the workplace appear to have disappeared with layoffs affecting the teams involved in January.
