Anduril takes control of Microsoft’s Microsoft Military Headset Military Headset Program for $ 22 billion

The army plans to provide an UPSTART weapons manufacturer Anduril Control for one of its most profile and long-lasting projects known as the Integrated Visual Increase System (IVA) in anticipation of the final approval of the Ministry of Defense (DOD), the founder Palmer Luke in Blog Post on Tuesday.

Initially, IVA was awarded to Microsoft in 2018 to develop headphones for an extended reality for soldiers based on a rough version of Hololens. The initial IVA budget was set at $ 21.9 billion.

Anduril will now take control of the contract. While Microsoft is removed as a major contractor, he is not expelled from the project. The company will continue to be a cloud supplier as per Microsoft.

Anduril will be charged with supervision of production, the future development of both hardware and software and delivery times, Microsoft said.

The original idea was to give troops Heads-Up display with features such as thermal sensor, tactical attack software (which provides various types of critical mission information) and maps.

The Anduril Software was already added to Microsoft’s Ivas headset, Announced the company In September. The grille added computer vision AI and other features that helped the headphones detect, track and classify objects.

But Ivas had a long history of problems.

As early as 2022, the DOD general inspector issued a report stating that IVAS did not do a good enough job by serving people – which means that the soldiers – who will use the headphones. Report warn, “Providing IVA without achieving users can lead to a loss of up to $ 21.88 billion for taxpayers to create a system that soldiers may not want to use or use as intended.”

Microsoft’s prototypes suffer from technical problems, as prototypes are prone, such as the detection of virtual objects, sources said Defense breakdown in 2023S

In August, the army pointed out that he was open to download Microsoft as a major contractor, although the technological giant swore that he would enter any new bidding process to try to keep it, Reports defense breachS

The Luckey blog post by Anduril Wal Wal Waxed Poetic and covered many festive land, including the DISS for a competitor. The blog publication became comical at certain times.

“Tactical heads-up show that turn fighters into technoms and pair us with weapons robotics, they were one of the products in the original Anduril deck for a reason,” he writes.

“If Anduril was more than a dozen people when Ivas first spun all over all these years (at least Tragic The boys did not win, our country really escaped from a bullet there), I believe that our crazy terrain could win it from the beginning, “he continued.

Tragic Heap is Luckey’s unscrupulous nickname for Magic Leap, according to reports among the 80 companies that are struggling to take over this project. Others included Palantir and Kopin, which builds displays used in F-35 helmets, Breaking Defense reports.

Luke also annoys that a whole list of new features is planned for the project, but it did not name them. Instead, he jokingly edited this paragraph.

“Whatever you imagine, no matter how crazy it is, you imagine that I am, multiply it by ten and then do it again. I came back and start only, “he promised.

Whether the project, with its forthcoming main artist Anduril, will retain the entire $ 22 billion budget remains to be seen. Threats to reduce financing or cancellation of the program has been completely continued for years.

Microsoft, the Vice President of the Company of the Mixed Reality Robin Seiler wrote in his public statement: “We are incredibly proud of the work that our teams put in to help the US Army transform its concept for a soldier, AR head with a reality with reality Reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with reality with the IVAS program. “

However, 2025 is already being shaped like a hell of Luke and Anduril. The company is In a collection negotiations up to $ 2.5 billion Round in an estimate of $ 28 billion. And announced that the location of his new weapon MegaFactory will be in Ohio.

Note: This story was updated to include Microsoft’s statement and to clarify that the official transfer is still in anticipation of DOD approval, although both companies have announced the change in the contract.