Microsoft’s Hololens should prepare the US Army for the war of the future – now the 400 million deal has burst

400 million deal collapsed
Microsoft’s HoloLens was supposed to prepare the US Army for the war of the future – now it has to start over

The data glasses Hololens should change the war. Now she needs to be revised herself. The Army was prohibited from purchasing the current model.

In the midst of battle, a large arrow appears in the soldiers’ field of vision. The command center has just marked a building, now it is highlighted in the helmet sights of the ground forces. What sounds like a scene from a science fiction movie is always possible with the latest tools used by the US armed forces. Nevertheless, the US Congress has rejected further purchases of the smart combat helmets for the time being. And sentenced the manufacturer Microsoft to do homework.

The US armed forces wanted to herald the future of ground combat with a smart helmet. Thanks to modern reconnaissance technology, the command centers have an increasingly comprehensive picture of what is happening in combat, with smart glasses integrated into the helmet called Combat Goggles, should they also be available to the ground troops at all times in the field of vision. That plan has now been postponed: Congress refused to approve the funds earmarked for it in the defense budget, Bloomberg reports.

Dangerous glasses

It should be less about the money. The budget bill signed into law by President Joe Biden at the end of December covers a whopping $1.7 trillion in spending. The 400 million dollars planned for 6900 data glasses would only be a drop in the ocean. The fact that Congress refused them is primarily due to the fact that, in their current form, they are more likely to pose a danger to the soldiers than to help them.

That was the result of the first comprehensive test of the glasses last summer. In a three-day maneuver, 70 soldiers extensively tested the glasses in advance, attack and defense scenarios. The sober summary: In the first three hours after using the device, more than 80 percent of the soldiers complained about physical discomfort from wearing the data glasses for a long time, from nausea to headaches to overstrained eyes.

There is another reason why the glasses were also rated as simply life-threatening for the soldiers: Because the light from the displays slightly illuminates the faces of the soldiers despite the shielding, the wearers can also be seen in the dark over greater distances. And thus an easy target for enemy shooters who only have to aim at the illuminated heads. “These devices would have cost us our lives,” was the shockingly clear conclusion of one soldier.

Homework for Microsoft

Accordingly, a revision of the glasses was ordered in the US Congress. Instead, 40 million of the $400 million required for the purchase was reallocated and released for troubleshooting, an army spokesman for Bloomberg confirmed in an email. A month ago, the Army had budgeted $125 million for the development of a new model called “Version 1.2”. The money came from the previous year’s budget. According to a statement, the new development should address both the problems of prolonged wear and the danger of the display lighting up. In addition, they want to increase the wearing comfort, adapt the software and improve the battery life.

This is an annoying development for Microsoft. Despite protests from the workforce, the group had increasingly ensnared the US armed forces as a possible major customer in recent years. In addition to the development of the Combat Goggles, the group had primarily tried to bring the digital infrastructure of the US armed forces up to date as part of a program called JEDI. After Amazon lost the race for the 10 billion contract, the group sued. The suspicion: Ex-President Donald Trump disadvantaged the group because of his hatred of founder Jeff Bezos. Although Microsoft won in court, the program ended up being shut down. Microsoft then had to share the $9 billion follow-up project with three other companies.

The Combat Goggles, however, are once again about a much larger business. Over the next ten years, the US armed forces want to purchase and use up to 121,000 of the glasses. With spare parts and services, costs of almost 22 billion dollars are planned for this. But only if Microsoft delivers a product that the soldiers can use.

Sources: Bloomberg, Business Insider, CNN

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