Palmer Lucky returns to its VR roots with Anduril’s new EagleEye MR helmet

In the latest bid by a Silicon Valley defense company touting a unique solution to the Army’s mixed reality ambitions, Anduril Industries on Monday unveiled EagleEye, a helmeted computing system that aims to transform soldiers into AI-enhanced combatants.

The launch is notable considering it is being led by Anduri co-founder Palmer Lucky. He previously founded pioneering VR company Oculus, which was acquired by Meta.

Anduril describes EagleEye as a modular “family of systems” built on Lattice software that puts command and control tools, sensor feeds and AI directly into the soldier’s field of view.

The company claims that the system can integrate live video feeds. It has rear and side sensors that alert the operator to threats. Track your teammates in real time. EagleEye variations include helmets, visors, and glasses.

The announcement comes as the U.S. Army seeks to expand its supply of mixed reality equipment. The company used Microsoft’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), which won the $22 billion program in 2018, but after years of problems, the Army transferred management of the contract to Anduril in February of this year.

And in September, Anduril won a $159 million award to prototype a new mixed reality system for soldiers as part of a broader Soldier Born Mission Command effort. Anduril said the award represents “the largest effort of its kind” to equip every soldier with “superhuman perception and decision-making abilities.”

Earlier this year, Anduril also announced a partnership with Meta, which develops augmented reality (XR) devices for the military, marking an unexpected reunion between Lucky and his former employer.

“It’s great to be working with Meta again,” Lackey said in a blog post. “My mission has long been to turn warfighters into technologists, and the products we are building at Meta do just that.”

EagleEye has a long history. The concept first appeared in Anduril’s first draft proposal, before investors convinced the startup’s team to focus on software like Lattice.

“Going head-to-head with Microsoft and Magic Leap would be as demoralizing as windmill-tilting magical thinking,” Lucky said in a February post to X. “Everything is different now. The world is ready, and so is Anduril.”