Since Microsoft sidelined its mixed reality ambitions, news regarding its HoloLens headset has been relatively overlooked. However, the US Army still seems interested in the technology if they can get Microsoft’s AR headsets for “significantly less than $80,000.”
A recent report from Bloomberg lays out a request from the US Army to Microsoft to reduce the cost of co-developed Integrated Visual Augmentation System) headsets to increase the production of devices. Army Acquisition chief Doug Bush mentioned at an annual US Army conference that, while the project appears to be going well as of late, the Army still needs Microsoft to develop the technology at an affordable price.
Ouch.
The US Congress passed a $842 billion military budget for 2024, yet the Army is telling Microsoft that it needs to penny pinch on its augmented reality headsets for defense. To be fair, it’s reported that the current HoloLens-led setup that includes the headset, external battery, and chest harness cost around $41,824 with the other half being attributed to Microsoft’s running tab for engineering and software support.
Microsoft understands the demand for a more cost-efficient headset and corporate vice president of Mixed Reality, Robin Seiler says, “It’s a fairly complex system, so when you look at cost reduction, you have to look at it from a component level, from a labor level, and from your supply chain. Some of the cost projections are related to initial production batches, and other projections are based ‘over time.”
The last we publicly heard about Microsoft’s efforts to address the cost of the IVAS headsets included using thinner and lighter materials as well as decoupling the battery for easier power management. Microsoft also recently teamed up Palmer Luckey of Oculus Rift fame to head up new partnership with his company Anduril Industries to address the cost of developing a field ready AR headset under time constraints.
IVAS is more than the sum of its parts. Through integration across existing and new software and sensors, IVAS brings a full picture of the battlefield to every soldier, enabling safer and more effective operations. Our collaboration with Anduril to integrate their suite of critical sensors, along with their groundbreaking Lattice system into IVAS, demonstrates the transformative capability of this fighting goggle and will allow us to further expand the impact IVAS will have for every U.S. soldier.
Robin Seiler, Corporate Vice President of Mixed Reality at Microsoft
Microsoft will have to pass yet another Army test scheduled for the Summer of 2025, before it gets any closer to sealing the deal on its potential $21.9 billion contract, in addition to meeting the targeted cost requirements for the headset.
