What are the IVAS glasses microsoft provides for the U.S. Army?

Microsoft's Integrated Visual Enhancement System (IVAS) is an ongoing U.S. Army program to provide mixed reality (MR) devices for infantry personnel that enable image reproduction, object contouring, 3D mapping overlay, picture-in-picture display, and other features in low-light conditions.

It began in the early 2000s as the Nomad Enhanced Vision System (NAVS) program and evolved into IVAS 20 years later. Microsoft played a key role in the plan, with contracts worth nearly $22 billion over the next 10 years.

What's all about the Microsoft IVAS program?

The U.S. Army first invited Microsoft engineers in 2019 as part of its march into advanced technology to improve soldiers' situational awareness.

A team at Microsoft later attended a series of boot camps at north Carolina military bases, primarily for hands-on knowledge transfers to power the U.S. Army's specially manufactured MR glasses. In the future, the device is expected to be rolled out to thousands of infantry personnel.

This engagement is not a standalone exercise and is essentially a continuation of Microsoft's previous partnership with the Army, which began with a $480 million contract in 2018 to develop MR glasses to help soldiers train, practice and fight.

In March 2021, Microsoft announced that the Army had awarded it a nearly $22 billion contract to continue producing MR headsets based on Washington's Redmond company HoloLens technology.

Initially, Microsoft will produce about 120,000 devices, and the 5-year contract can be extended for another 5 years, for a total of 10 years.

Key features of Microsoft HoloLens IVAS

The partnership has the following key features:

Premium custom HoloLens

The U.S. Army's requirements will be far more complex than the ability to see simple holograms superimposed on a physical environment, and will require custom equipment beyond the $3,500 base price of HoloLens glasses.

That's why Microsoft plans to offer a customized version of HoloLens designed for rugged use.

Soldier-centric design

Between 2019 and 2021, Microsoft and the U.S. Army collaborated on a design philosophy and a set of principles called soldier-centered design.

It puts users of military equipment at the center of the design process and incorporates their feedback at every stage of development and production. While this approach is not new, Microsoft has made significant progress in supporting HoloLens-based IVAS.

Azure compute and services

A large portion of the transaction will include ancillary services in addition to the core IVAS hardware.

This may include storage and hosting solutions, industry-specific software applications, 3D design and modeling services, additional reliability assurance, maintenance and update support, and more.

In other words, Microsoft may offer the U.S. Army a holistic IVAS solution along with HoloLens glasses.

Initial obstacles and delays

Large-scale contracts in the defense sector always take time to fully mature, Microsoft's deal with the U.S. Army has seen considerable delays, and it will take about three years for the agreement to begin to be formed sometime in 2018.

It wasn't until March 2021 that the IVAS system moved from the prototype phase to production, and official sources say Microsoft has now won a contract to supply more than 120,000 IVAS glasses and related services to the U.S. Army.

A few months later, in October 2021, the U.S. Army stopped purchasing headsets, saying they were "basically resetting the program to figure out where the right timeline and technology are."

It's worth mentioning that this partnership makes the feelings of Microsoft employees complicated, some of whom oppose the use of their technology for combat purposes.

However, the October news was still unexpected, as just a few months ago in June, Microsoft had collected more than 80,000 hours of feedback on IVAS mechanisms, operations, and requirements.

The prototype is not yet ready for commissioning and will now be deployed in fiscal year 2022, nearly a year behind the original schedule.

Microsoft plans to use this time to make further improvements to the system, such as vehicle integration, adversarial electronic warfare and cybersecurity testing, hardiness, and more, and the Army guarantees that it remains "fully committed to the partnership with Microsoft."

What will happen to Microsoft Glasses in 2022?

So far, Microsoft IVAS Glasses plans to conduct operational tests by May, but according to conversations between Insider representatives and Microsoft employees, there is some confusion about the future of the program.

In March, a source spoke to Business Insider said that Microsoft expected the U.S. Army to give negative feedback based on early assessments that began this month.

According to an internal memo cited in the report, Microsoft is "entering a [feedback and testing] campaign in anticipation of negative feedback from customers," which may be due to problems with the use of the device and its thermal imaging capabilities in low-light conditions.

While Microsoft's headset development program for the U.S. military started out long and tough, in terms of valuation and operational utility, a deal of this magnitude required an engineering team to fully resolve the issue before production could gain momentum.

The events so far may simply reflect a "shift left" strategy, i.e. due diligence and rigorous assessment early in the roadmap. In fact, this could lead to more powerful and effective glasses than initially envisioned, especially in combination with new tools like Microsoft Mesh.

For now, Microsoft remains a staunch partner in the U.S. Army, and the deal — albeit delayed — has a clear and predictable roadmap.