Microsoft wins $21.9 billion US Army deal to supply augmented reality headsets

Microsoft Corp has been awarded a deal potentially worth up to $21.88 billion over 10 years to supply the US Army with augmented reality headsets based on its HoloLens product and backed by Azure cloud computing services.

The headsets will be manufactured in the US.

According to Microsoft Technical Fellow Alex Kipman, the headsets are designed to deliver “enhanced situational awareness" that enables information sharing and decision-making in numerous scenarios.

Microsoft has been working with the Army in the prototyping phase of its Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS, over the past two years.
The Army had since moved into the production phase of the project.

Microsoft is currently in a dispute in a lawsuit filed by Amazon.com Inc. over a $10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract with the Pentagon.

The Defense Department may jettison the contract if the dispute lingers in the courts.