ARMAMENTS

Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it has won a deal to sell the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), based on HoloLens and augmented by Microsoft Azure cloud services, to the US Army.

The contract could reach $ 21.88 billion over 10 years, a Microsoft spokesman told Reuters.

Over the past two years, Microsoft has worked with the military on the prototype phase of the IVAS. The company said Wednesday that the army had entered the production phase of the project.

In a blog post, Microsoft technical partner Alex Kipman said the headset were designed to provide “enhanced situational awareness, enabling information sharing and decision-making in a variety of scenarios.” 

Also read: “Homo robocopus” | Sci-fi scenario or reality? Indicative list of possibilities – VIDEO

Specifically, users will be able to generate and view 3D maps, record video and audio and share them automatically in real time to fellow soldiers or higher commands, navigate, mark both friendly and enemy positions, as well as crucial points on the battlefield area.

The IVAS systems for US troops will be manufactured in the United States, a Microsoft spokesman told Reuters. Microsoft was also about to win the $ 10 billion JEDI cloud computing deal with the Pentagon, but the deal remains in dispute in a lawsuit filed by Amazon.com Inc.

Also read: