The Anduril-Meta team and the Palantir-backed startup Rivet will each deliver hundreds of AR headsets to the US Army for testing as part of SBMC, the successor to IVAS.If you missed it, back in May, Meta and Palmer Luckey's defense firm Anduril announced that they were teaming up to build XR products for US and allied militaries, starting with the EagleEye AR/VR helmet.Alongside the partnership announcement, the two companies also jointly submitted a white paper for the US Army's SBMC (Soldier-Borne Mission Command) program, the successor to the IVAS program that Microsoft once led with a customized HoloLens before Anduril took it over.Palmer Luckey’s Anduril Partners With Meta To Build Military XR DevicesPalmer Luckey’s Anduril is teaming up with Meta to build XR products for US and allied militaries, starting with the EagleEye AR/VR helmet.UploadVRDavid HeaneyThat same month, a new startup called Rivet announced its own military-focused AR glasses, called Hard Spec. Rivet's executives include key former Microsoft HoloLens staff, and the company is funded in part by Palantir, which is also a "strategic partner".While Anduril describes EagleEye as an "integrated ballistic shell", a protective helmet with all the electronics built in, Rivet's Hard Spec is currently a thick pair of glasses, with a cable routed around an existing helmet.Beyond the design and the obvious use of waveguides, Rivet hasn't said much about the technical specifics of Hard Spec.Rivet Hard SpecNow, the US Army has awarded Anduril $159 million, and Rivet $195 million, to build and deliver hundreds of SBMC prototypes for field testing.Rivet has confirmed that its contract is for 470 “production representative” devices. Anduril, meanwhile, hasn't disclosed exactly how many units its contract covers, though Breaking Defense reports that it's also "hundreds".Ultimately, the SBMC program aims to augment the senses and cognition of all company-level-and-below US Army soldiers, and it could eventually be worth billions of dollars.Previously reported potential use cases for IVAS, the predecessor of SBMC, included:overlaying icons on friendly units, objectives, threats, and points of interestbuilt-in night vision & thermal view modeslive picture-in-picture feeds from drones, including the Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) personal dronesimulated weapons & enemies for training exercisesscanning nearby people for signs of illness, such as a high temperaturefacial recognition for hostage rescue situationsMicrosoft's IVAS solution was plagued with issues. In 2022 the US Congress rejected further orders following "mission-affecting physical impairments” including headaches, eyestrain and nausea". Previous evaluations had found reliability issues, with “essential functions” sometimes failing.Soon, with hundreds of units set to be tested, we should know whether Anduril's EagleEye and Rivet's Hard Spec fare any better in the field.Palmer Luckey Describes How Anduril’s EagleEye Helmet Will Give Soldiers Superhuman SensesPalmer Luckey described how Anduril’s EagleEye helmet will give soldiers superhuman senses, describing it as “by far the best AR/VR/MR vision augmentation system that has ever been built”.UploadVRDavid Heaney