Microsoft’s HoloLens-based headset built on contract for the US Army has passed an important round of field testing by soldiers. The company is now set to fulfill a larger order to be used in more rigorous testing slated to take place in 2025.

Awarded in 2019, Microsoft’s $22 billion defense contract is aiming to supply the US Army with a tactical AR headset for soldiers based on HoloLens 2 technology, or what’s called an Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS),

According to Bloomberg, 20 prototype versions of the newer 1.2 IVAS headsets were field tested by two squads of solders in late August specifically to check for improvements in reliability, low-light performance and ergonomics. It was reported in early 2022 that Microsoft was bracing for negative field testing, citing concerns with low-light performance and nausea.

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Taking place at Fort Drum, New York, those tests “demonstrated improvements in reliability, low light sensor performance, and form factor,” a US Army spokesperson told Bloomberg, saying further that “soldier feedback was positive.”

The Army awarded Microsoft another contract on September 5th for the 1.2 IVAS to see if the company could scale production. Its $22 billion contract indicates an upper target, and not the full amount granted to Microsoft at present.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • ViRGiN

    Another day, another no SteamVR coverage.
    Glad to see Microsoft awarded more money than enitrety of PCVR sales projected over 1337 years.

    • another juan

      It’s weird that this site hasn’t reported anything on the new Valve headset that has been covered recently everywhere else. It might be that they’re under some NDA until the reveal date? Guess we’ll have an answer by next week.

      • ViRGiN

        No point reporting on silly rumours. We’ve been hearing “news” about *something* for years now, and there hasn’t any official statement.
        The only sources are of the cultist fanboyish type like sadly bradley. the guy who also shilled for NOFIO wireless adapter for index, which to this day has not released even a single unit in the wild, nor to any youtuber or anyone else. time to get off the hopium.

  • The current new step is evaluating also the capabilities of integrating cloud functionalities into this device

  • Ad

    More waste, more corruption, more war.

    • ViRGiNCRUSHER

      You always have to innovate over your current enemies or future enemies.. Many big innovations have come from war as bad as it is.

  • silvaring

    Wasn’t Amazon trying to get in on this deal?

  • nullcodes

    What a huge ripoff. HoloLens sucks, the resolution is horrible. The FoV is horrible. Microsoft is a decade behind Apple.