Almost four years after its VR-focussed rebrand, Meta has found a new home for its ‘extended reality’ tech at the US military as it partners with defense company Anduril on AI-powered headsets for soldiers.
Not content with simple social media domination, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has joined forces with Anduril founder Palmer Luckey to integrate Meta’s “mixed reality capabilities” with his Lattice command system platform
The move marks the first time Meta will supply “cutting-edge” technology to the US government and involves an unlikely partner - Luckey was unceremoniously let go in 2017 after joining the company during its $2 billion acquisition of his virtual reality company Oculus.
Seemingly burying the hatchet, Luckey said he was glad to work with the company “once again” on the “AI and body-worn devices”, he said: “My mission has long been to turn warfighters into technomancers, and the products we are building with Meta do just that.”
Meta's pivot to the military is no doubt informed by its desire to see a return on investment on its multi-billion-dollar VR play, which was the focus of its 2021 rebrand and Zuckerberg's dreams of a virtual 'Metaverse', but has yet to see much commercial success.
Its VR arm Reality Labs, formed from what was once Oculus, recorded an operating loss of $4.2 billion in Q1 2025, with revenue of just $412 million.
The tech
The deal forms part of an existing Anduril contract with the US Army transitioning its Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) to the retitled Soldier-Borne Mission Command (SBMC).
Anduril said Meta’s “mixed reality” technology will be integrated with its AI-powered Lattice software platform to allow soldiers to access its “analytical capabilities" through “role-specific” augmented and virtual reality interfaces and headsets.
The two companies have jointly submitted a white paper to the Army’s SBMC Next process, a request for information on the development of new SBMC tech.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, said: “The world is entering a new era of computing that will give people access to limitless intelligence and extend their senses and perception in ways that have never been possible before.
“Our national security benefits enormously from American industry bringing these technologies to life.”
The link has been copied!
