Anduril and Meta's quest to make smart glasses for warfare

2 days ago

Anduril and Meta are developing augmented-reality smart glasses for the US military, with prototypes including features like eye-tracking and voice commands for tasks such as drone strikes.
Two projects are underway: the Soldier Born Mission Command (SBMC) under a $159 million Army contract, and a self-funded initiative called EagleEye, which integrates the technology into a custom helmet.
The systems use Anduril's Lattice software to integrate data from military hardware, with large language models (e.g., Google's Gemini, Meta's Llama) translating soldiers' speech into commands.
Challenges include overcoming information overload for soldiers, ensuring the technology works in harsh environments (e.g., dust, explosions), and managing weight and battery life without reliable 5G connections.
The Army's adoption timeline extends to 2028, with competitors like Rivet and Elbit also receiving prototyping contracts, following Microsoft's failed $22 billion effort due to viability issues.
Ethical and operational risks are highlighted, such as reliance on imperfect AI for threat identification and strike recommendations, which could introduce new error risks on the battlefield.
Meta provides key hardware components despite past conflicts, and Anduril plans to sell EagleEye to foreign militaries even if the Army does not adopt it.

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