Palmer Luckey, Meta & Anduril Develop Military Mixed Reality Headsets

Anduril and Meta Collaborate on XR Devices for the Military

A significant announcement was made on Thursday regarding a partnership between Anduril and Meta, representing a noteworthy development for Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey. The companies will jointly develop extended reality (XR) devices intended for use by the U.S. military, as detailed in an Anduril blog post.

Palmer Luckey expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, stating, “I am glad to be working with Meta once again.” He further elaborated that his objective has consistently been to empower warfighters with advanced technological capabilities, and the products resulting from this partnership will achieve precisely that.

Origins in the SBMC Next Program

This collaboration is a direct outcome of the Soldier Borne Mission Command (SBMC) Next program, previously known as the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) Next. Originally, IVAS was a substantial military contract, boasting a $22 billion budget, and was initially granted to Microsoft in 2018. The goal was to create augmented reality (AR) glasses similar to HoloLens for soldiers.

However, following numerous challenges, the Army reassigned program management from Microsoft to Anduril in February, while Microsoft continues to serve as a cloud provider. The ultimate aim is to establish a diverse range of suppliers for mixed reality glasses utilized by military personnel.

Meta's Entry Point

Consequently, for Meta, Luckey’s previous employer, to participate in the potentially profitable market of military VR/AR/XR headsets, collaboration with Anduril became essential.

Leveraging Meta and Anduril Technologies

The forthcoming devices will incorporate technology originating from Meta’s AR/VR research division, Reality Labs. They will utilize Meta’s Llama AI model and integrate with Anduril’s Lattice command and control software. This integration is designed to deliver soldiers a real-time, heads-up display of critical battlefield intelligence.

A Personal Reconciliation for Palmer Luckey

Luckey appears optimistic about this renewed partnership. He was notably dismissed from Facebook in 2017, approximately three years after Facebook’s acquisition of his startup, Oculus, for $2 billion. This followed controversy surrounding his public support for Donald Trump during the 2016 election.

Subsequently, Luckey established Anduril in 2017, alongside co-founders Brian Schimpf, Trae Stephens, and Matt Grimm.

Introducing EagleEye

According to a TechCrunch report, the product line being developed by Meta and Anduril is named EagleEye, envisioned as a comprehensive ecosystem of devices.

EagleEye was actually the name Luckey initially assigned to Anduril’s first conceptual headset, as presented in an early pitch deck. However, his investors advised him to prioritize software development first.

Luckey recounted on social media in February, after securing the IVAS contract, that his investors believed he was overly focused on a competitive dispute regarding the future of AR/VR, aiming to prove his concepts correct and those who terminated his employment incorrect. “They pointed out that it seemed like I was sequencing things irrationally.”

Following Thursday’s announcement, Luckey posted on X, stating, “It is pretty cool to have everything at our fingertips for this joint effort – everything I made before Meta acquired Oculus, everything we made together, and everything we did on our own after I was fired.”

Demonstrating a complete resolution of past differences, Luckey also revealed that Anduril has launched a Facebook page.