Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Feed Link: https://www.engadget.com/
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Title: Meta could soon start building tech for the US Army

Date: Thu, 29 May 2025 18:44:05 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-could-...

Meta is bidding to build high-tech wearables for the US Army, as reported by
Wall Street Journal. The company is teaming up with Palmer Luckey's defense
firm Anduril Industries on the project, which has been dubbed EagleEye. The
contract is worth around $100 million, though it hasn't been awarded yet.
It's part of a larger $22 billion Army wearables project of which Anduril is
the lead vendor.

As expected from Meta and Luckey, EagleEye will be a line of tech-forward
helmets, glasses and other wearables that provide an augmented reality or
virtual reality experience. Reporting indicates that these devices will
include sensors that enhance the hearing and vision of soldiers. Meta CEO
Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement that this tech will ΓÇ£protect our
interests at home and abroad.ΓÇ¥

Anduril and Meta have teamed up to make the world's best AR and VR systems
for the United States Military.

Leveraging Meta's massive investments in XR technology for our troops will
save countless lives and dollars. pic.twitter.com/t9d2vRInSe

ΓÇö Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) May 29, 2025

This could be used to detect drones flying miles away, for instance, or to
suss out hidden targets. It'll also allow these soldiers to interact with AI-
powered weapon systems, as Anduril's autonomy software and Meta's AI models
will underpin each device. This all sounds very dystopian, but such are the
times we find ourselves in.

ΓÇ£I have successfully persuaded not just Meta but many others that working
with the military is important," Palmer Luckey said in an interview, speaking
on Big Tech's embrace of defense contract work. He's become a big player in
the defense space in recent years, securing $6 billion in global government
contracts and partnering up with many of the tech world's major players.

"I've always said that we need to transition from being the world police to
being the world gun store," he said in a recent interview with CBS News.
Luckey is a long-time supporter of President Trump and recently said that
Anduril "did well under Trump in his first administration" and that he thinks
the company is "going to do even better now."

This is something of a homecoming for Luckey. He co-founded Oculus VR, which
Meta purchased. He was fired back in 2017 after news broke that he donated
$10,000 to a group trying to install 4chan-style anti-Hillary Clinton memes
on roadside billboards. Zuckerberg has since cozied up to Trump in various
ways, so I guess the two can be friends again or whatever. ΓÇ£I finally got
all my toys back,ΓÇ¥ Luckey told WSJ.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-
tech/meta-could-soon-start-building-tech-for-the-us-army-
184405058.html?src=rss

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