Meta partners with Anduril for XR Army headsets

Meta (NASDAQ:META) is partnering with Palmer Luckey’s Anduril Industries to develop and build a range of extended reality (“XR”) gear for the U.S. Army to enhance soldiers’ sight and hearing, along with capabilities that allow for advanced interaction with artificial intelligence weapons systems.

By capitalizing on Meta’s (NASDAQ:META) virtual reality and augmented reality (“VR/AR”) technology with Anduril’s AI-powered command and control Lattice platform, EagleEye will provide soldiers with enhanced perception and intuitive control of autonomous platforms on the battlefield.

Although the two companies have already submitted a bid to the Pentagon for the $100M AR/VR hardware contract, the development of the headsets has already been funded through private capital with the intention of finding other buyers within the U.S. military. The contract is part of a larger $22B project by the U.S. Army to develop wearable combat technology.

“I am glad to be working with Meta once again.” said Anduril founder Palmer Luckey. “My mission has long been to turn warfighters into technomancers, and the products we are building with Meta do just that.”

The partnership to support U.S. soldiers isn’t the first collaboration between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Palmer Luckey. Their working relationship dates back to 2014, when Meta (then Facebook) acquired Luckey’s Oculus VR startup for $2 billion. Luckey joined the company to continue developing the technology but was dismissed two years later, reportedly due to his political affiliations.

Luckey went on to start Anduril with a mission of “transforming defense capabilities with advanced technology” that advances the military’s autonomous defense systems through its Lattice AI system.

And for Meta (NASDAQ:META) embrace of the U.S. military is part of a more strategic goal to capture multi-million-dollar Pentagon contracts under a new administration. The company has recently opened up its Llama AI model for military use and advertised open jobs for public policy managers to “lead our outreach to national security and foreign policy agencies within the Executive Branch.”

“If you’re looking for a money spigot that’s never going to get turned off, you go to the Pentagon,” summed up George Washington Associate Director for International Affairs Shana Marshall to Forbes.