Anduril to take over Microsoft's U.S. Army $22B headset program | Hacker News Reader

Anduril to take over Microsoft's U.S. Army $22B headset program

cnbc.com

53 pointsjonbaer17 comments

Who's doing the f35 transparent cockpit thing, what system is behind that?

I can hardly picture soldiers running into combat wearing of oculus goggles, maybe they're pivoting to something better for the drone pilots, intelligence / command. I'm picturing Battlefield II style drone based targeting, but I don't really know what the use case is here

I'll add an anecdote from an army buddy: he hates it when the command hands down Batman utility belt shit like this, promising enhanced intel and connectivity.

1. It's just more equipment that will malfunction when they're trying not to die

2. Having your command looking over your shoulders is not necessarily tied to good outcomes - somebody not on the battlefield is now backseat driving and second guessing your decisions instead of trusting you to execute.

Counterpoint:

Data links with other assets such as the f35 is already doing for target and threat identification, suggesting weapon systems to use, calling in drone strikes, and links with smart targeting systems, which are already in development for standard infantry.

The headsets are already a thing - they are more like hololens so you can see directly through plus stuff overlaid. Here's a soldier talking about it in training https://youtu.be/8NHO1RnK0zI?t=94

Hadn't seen the video, thanks -- that system is the one Microsoft was prototyping tho, and and my impression from seeing Palmer Lucky on CNBC is that they're tossing the existing hardware and going with Oculus. They don't have AR goggles that projects onto a visor like hololens, they went with full camera passthrough like Apple Vision. Terrible choice for mission critical IMO, at least if Hololens crashes you are left with a transparent piece of plastic.

Of course with 22B they can design new hardware from the ground up, maybe (how much did Magic Leap light on fire?)

Yeah dunno. If you loot at the real war of the moment in Ukraine there are a lot of people sitting around with VR controlling drones and not much running into battle due to the range of modern weapons.

Shout out to Palmer Luckey Land. Fun fact, the new court next door was built by DEC --notice the street address? It was a joke on IBM.

I'm sure the AR will do something extremely useful - perhaps draw firearms on the civilians in view.

I saw that picture of Andurils founder and immediately thought: "they are all going to jail."

He founded Oculus and sold it to Facebook.

That's cool but I feel it increases the risk of everyone around him further. Humans can only handle so much.

What?

You are joking but there is something unsettling to me in how this guy builds his own image. I mean, everyone, especially in professional environment presents some kind of persona instead of authentic "self", he seems to be deliberately constructing his own based of bunch of videogames - I suppose there is nothing wrong with that but still, taking into account type of business he and his company is involved in - it feels wrong to some degree.

Context below - long video interview with the man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItLFpYha6Wc

He reminds me of Tommy Vercetti from Grand Theft Auto Vice City.

"there are actually things I would like to build that the DOD would not use and would not deploy that they do think are beyond the pale" (15:47)

Impressive thing to say

Smart move.

Perfect opportunity for doge to cut some fat here. What’s that? It’s a Thiel project? Guess not.

Exciting news. Hopefully they can make it work.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com