New US-made super army goggles make the soldiers a live target

WASHINGTON — Microsoft’s IVAS [Integrated Visual Augmentation System] should give the American soldier an advantage. However, this remains an unachieved goal for now. Recent tests show that IVAS failed four out of six tests. This is written by the American online publication Business Insider.

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The biggest problem, for now, seems to be that the display of the goggles glows from the outside. This means that the enemy can spot the soldier wearing them and attack him. A soldier with such a “light indication” becomes an easy target for a sniper, especially in the dark.

Another problem with IVAS expressed by the test soldiers in the field of view. A helmet restricts the soldier’s field of view, thus impairing his peripheral vision. All this combined with the weight of the helmet makes it difficult to move and again a target.

The Pentagon awarded Microsoft nearly $22 billion for the production and delivery of IVAS. 120,000 super army goggles were to be delivered in one year. That translates to nearly $183,000 per unit. Here, too, there are disturbing figures, as Microsoft’s latest technology used in the Hololens 2 military goggles costs $3,500. And even though Hololens 2 is supposed to be reprogrammed and re-engineered for military use, the nearly 50x price increase is disconcerting.

IVAS also received positive comments. Officers of the 75th Ranger Regiment spoke quite positively of the helmet, mostly praising its navigational abilities. According to platoon leader Sergeant Brian Hayman, the soldiers are now completing their mission more quickly because they have reached the training route more quickly. Heyman said the exercise they conducted in Puerto Rico showed that thanks to the goggles, the soldiers did not stop to check the route. Because IVAS allows for real visual control of each individual soldier, it has also helped maintain discipline, strict adherence to mission specifications, and realistic observation of the battlefield through the eyes of each soldier.

U.S. Army Brigadier General Christopher D. Schneider also believes that IVASs do more good than harm. According to him, the tests have shown what optimization the future IVAS needs.

However, Microsoft must make a lot of effort with development, since Bloomberg already wrote in early September that the delivery of the first 5,000 helmets is imminent, although it is not known whether the schedule will be changed in light of the test results.

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