Palmer Luckey says that his career has led to a $ 22 billion US military contract for glasses

• Andundil de Palmer Luckey should resume Microsoft’s American army contract for mixed reality glasses.
• The 10 -year contract, worth $ 22 billion, was prey to development problems.
• Andundil now has a blow – a moment that said that Luckey was part of Andundil’s original vision.

Palmer Luckey has just won a big personal victory – his defense startup, Andundil, is expected to resume the $ 22 billion contract in Microsoft to make high -tech glasses for the US military.

The two companies announced the transition on Tuesday, saying that Antil was heading “production of production, future development of hardware and software and delivery times” for the integrated visual increase system.

The IVAS is supposed to give soldiers a helmet that uses augmented and visual reality to provide them with information on the battlefield in real time. One of his most important functions is to help the wearer identify drones quickly and clearly.

For Luckey, the transition of the contract is its own moment in the watershed. Tuesday in his blog, he wrote that the announcement was “deeply personal”.

“Everything I did in my career – Build Oculus from a motorhome trailer, sending VR to millions of consumers, leaving Silicon Valley by dagger snakes, betting that Antil could tear The people of the Bigtech Megacorp matrix and put them working on the most important problems of our country-has led at that time, “he wrote.

This decision recalls Luckey’s original foray into the technological industry, when he founded Oculus VR and sold it to Facebook in 2014 for $ 2 billion. After being ousted from Facebook, he started Anduril in 2017, and his defense startup has since dived in drones, AI and counter-electronic war systems for the American army.

In September, Microsoft and Andundil said they were collaborating on the IVAS program, Luckey’s company providing network software for headsets.

Now the entire program should be under Andundil’s control.

Luckey wrote in his blog that he had recognized the combat potential for high -tech glasses since he was a teenager, and that providing them to the American army was part of the Pitch of Andundil Pitch ago years.

However, Andundil’s size at the time, which, according to him, was a team of about a dozen people, has harmed the contract.

“I believe that our crazy terrain could have won this from the start – as things are, however, there is no time like the present,” wrote Luckey.

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The American army spends a time with Ivas

The transfer must still be approved by the United States government. The American army awarded Microsoft the 10 -year contract in 2021, when the agreement was estimated up to $ 22 billion.

The IVAS program has since faced a difficult development route in development and tests. Microsoft has converted its Hololens 2 helmets for military use, but the soldiers criticized the aircraft, complaining of software and side effects like headache, nausea and neck tensions.

The comments prompted the US military to delay the IVA program in October 2021, and the systems have been retweets several times for the battlefield in the years that followed.

Within Microsoft, the entire Hololens project seemed to be sick. Ashely Stewart of Business Insider reported in 2022 that the plans for a third version of the helmet were abandoned and that the company had lost billions in its mixed reality program.

In October 2024, Microsoft confirmed the plans to stop the production of Hololens 2 and reduce the management of the device, questioning the IVAS program. Microsoft’s move followed with a change throughout the industry, while the technology giants reclaimed from the development of mixed reality headsets to focus rather on the AI ​​breed.

After Microsoft’s decision, the US military hinted at the end of January that it had surveyed the market for a new competitor for its 10 -year contract, publishing a request for information related to the IVAS program.

With Andundil now on the driver’s seat, it is not immediately clear which material it will use for the IVAS. There was no mention of the Hololens 2 abandoned in his joint declaration with Microsoft.

Instead, the joint declaration indicates that part of the Andundil agreement is to do the Cloud Azure service from Microsoft its “favorite hyperscal cloud” for the IVAS.

While Antil takes control of the Ivas, Luckey projected confidence in his blog, writing that he wanted to “transform combatants into technologies” through his head displays.

“We have a chance to prove that this longtime dream is not a windmill,” he wrote.

Andundil and Microsoft did not respond to requests for comments sent outside regular work hours by Business Insider.