The Army late last week awarded a $195 million contract to the startup firm Rivet to build an artificial intelligence-powered, augmented-reality headset that proponents say will give soldiers vastly improved capabilities on the battlefield.
The Army also reportedly awarded another contract to build the device to a partnership of tech giants Anduril and Meta, setting up a high-stakes competition for the headsets, which are expected to be a key piece of the Army’s 21st-century modernization and the integration of AI and augmented reality into its operations.
Anduril and Meta announced their partnership on the project last year.
The new capability is part of the Army’s Soldier Borne Mission Command program, the successor to its previous Integrated Visual Augmentation System initiative.
The contract winners reportedly will complete prototypes within 18 months.
Rivet CEO Dave Marra said last week in a statement that his company is “determined to deliver the most lethal capability to soldiers at speed and budget.”
Rivet was founded in 2024 and is reportedly funded in part by the data-analytic software company Palantir.
A photo on the Rivet website accompanying its statement suggests the company’s product will resemble a pair of futuristic glasses or goggles and will not be the kind of large, bulky headset that could weigh down a soldier or create other logistical problems on the battlefield.
In a joint statement in May, Anduril and Microsoft said their offering will “transform how warfighters see, sense, and integrate battlefield information, providing immersive technology solutions that enhance tactical decision-making in combat scenarios.”
Such AI-powered headsets are seen as crucial for modern-day warfighters. The devices are expected to combine existing capabilities such as high-resolution night vision and other soldier-borne sensors with an augmented-reality display that also could, for example, allow soldiers to control drones overhead.
The advent of artificial intelligence is seen as a potential game-changer in allowing a soldier to both understand all of the information in front of them and to potentially control various capabilities at once.
The news outlet Breaking Defense first reported the contract awards.
