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Palmer Luckey’s defense company Anduril Industries and Meta are collaborating on the development of XR products for the US military.
FACTS
Meta and Anduril have announced a partnership aimed at creating VR- and AR-enabled helmets, headsets, and other wearable devices for military use. Anduril refers to these as “integrated XR products that provide warfighters with enhanced perception and enable intuitive control of autonomous platforms on the battlefield.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, the two companies have jointly applied for a $100 million Army contract. Anduril states that the project is being financed with private capital and will continue independently of whether the military contract is awarded.
The contract falls under the $22 billion IVAS program, which Anduril took over from Microsoft in February 2025. IVAS stands for Integrated Visual Augmentation System and involves the development of AR technology for military applications. The project, now led by Anduril, has been renamed SBMC (Soldier-Borne Mission Command). According to Anduril, the first headset prototypes are already undergoing testing and are equipped with its proprietary AI-powered information platform, Lattice.
The first product emerging from the partnership is called EagleEye. It will feature advanced sensors designed to enhance soldiers’ hearing and vision. For example, users will be able to detect drones flying miles away or identify concealed targets. The system also allows for the operation and interaction with AI-controlled weapon systems.
“It is going to be by far the best AR/VR/MR vision augmentation system that has ever been built, in terms of resolution, in terms of field of view, in terms of graphical fidelity, in terms of sensor quality, and what you can do with those sensors,” said Palmer Luckey in February.
CONTEXT
Coming full circle
Palmer Luckey is the founder of Oculus, the pioneering VR start-up acquired by Facebook in 2014. In 2017, he was ousted from the company for his political views. He went on to establish the defense company Anduril Industries. For years, Luckey harbored resentment toward Facebook, and later Meta.
In October 2024, however, Luckey reconciled with Meta’s leadership. With the two sides now collaborating on XR hardware once again, the Oculus founder has, in a sense, come full circle.
If Anduril Industries and Meta succeed with EagleEye and future defense XR products, and secure the US military as a major customer, it could significantly accelerate the development of VR and AR technologies. With defense funding supporting the initiative, Meta would no longer need to shoulder the full cost of R&D and manufacturing alone.
More background on the partnership is available in the following interview with Palmer Luckey.
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