What’s the story?
Distance and Supacat have signed a three-year framework agreement to integrate Distance’s AR HUD and computational optics stack across Supacat HMT vehicles.
Why it matters
By placing mission and vehicle data in the driver’s line-of-sight, the Field Operator HUD is designed to support navigation, safety and situational awareness.
The bigger picture
The agreement shows how aerospace-style HUD capabilities are being applied to land-based military vehicles through glasses-free AR and sensor fusion systems.
In Augmented Reality News
June 11, 2026 – Distance Technologies Oy, a developer of glasses-free XR lightfield display systems, and Supacat, a British manufacturer of military vehicles, have recently announced a three-year framework agreement covering the integration of Distance’s glasses-free augmented reality (AR) and computational optics stack across Supacat’s High Mobility Transporter (HMT) platform family.
The agreement followed Supacat’s recent Capability Day in Farnborough, UK, where Distance demonstrated its Field Operator HUD integrated directly into Supacat’s HMT platform in front of British military officials and defence stakeholders. According to the companies, the collaboration combines Distance’s computational optics and mixed reality technology with Supacat’s HMT platform architecture and broader battlefield systems ecosystem.
Under the agreement, Distance was named Supacat’s exclusive supplier of AR and computational optic solutions for navigation, safety and situational awareness across the global HMT fleet of approximately 1,000 vehicles, subject to demand and procurement intent from the UK Ministry of Defence and other global defence organisations. The agreement also establishes a framework for future procurement activity, including purchase orders, product delivery, warranties, intellectual property rights, joint demonstrations and cooperative business development.
Distance’s Field Operator HUD is built into the driver’s line-of-sight and enables operators to access mission-critical information without diverting attention to secondary displays. The system projects navigation, inclinometer, vehicle telemetry, thermal sensor feeds, mission overlays and situational awareness data. It also supports hyperspectral sensor fusion across visible, infrared and thermal wavelengths for day, night, smoke and degraded-visibility conditions.
“As soon as Supacat was introduced to the advanced HUD capabilities developed by Distance Technologies, it was obvious there was a clear operational utility for our end users that enhances safety of the crew and dismounted soldiers in what can be at times a chaotic scenario,” said Phil Applegarth, Director and Head of Supacat. “What began as a highly innovative demonstration programme has now matured into a long-term collaboration with meaningful relevance for future capability development only made possible by the Distance technology stack.”
“Over the past year, we have rapidly deployed from a concept demonstration to a formal commercial framework supporting future deployment opportunities with Supacat,” said Urho Konttori, Co-Founder and CEO of Distance Technologies. “Together with Supacat, we are now enabling drivers and command personnel to access critical mission and vehicle data directly in their field of view — bringing aerospace-grade perception and battlefield awareness into the next-generation of ground platforms.”
The companies stated that they will continue joint demonstrations and business development activities throughout 2026, including at Eurosatory 2026 in Paris, where Distance and Supacat will demonstrate the Field Operator HUD technology for international defence audiences.
For more information on Distance Technologies, please visit the company’s website.
Image / video credit: Distance Technologies / Supacat
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix, where he has spent years immersed in the XR ecosystem, tracking its evolution from early prototypes to the technologies shaping the future of human experience. While primarily covering the latest AR and VR news, his interests extend to the wider world of human augmentation, from AI and robotics to haptics, wearables, and brain–computer interfaces.