Under the $19.8 million, one-year contract from Space Systems Command (SSC), Microsoft will develop the Integrated, Immersive, Intelligent Environment (I3E) — an augmented reality space simulation powered by the company’s HoloLens headsets. The training tool is a successor to the service’s Immersive Digital Facility (IDF) prototype developed in 2023, according to a press release.

The contract period began Dec. 1, and the deal includes a reserved scope for an additional three years of work, per the release.

The I3E enables guardians to interact with space-based objects — from satellites to planets in the solar system — in a simulated environment, while also allowing them to digitally integrate emerging capabilities into space architectures in order to better understand how they work in that domain.

The tool currently hosts four missions on Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure: physics-based space environment and satellite simulation; space intelligence collection and scheduling; strategic orbital wargaming; and augmented reality space simulation.

Recognizing that guardians aren’t likely to physically train within the space domain anytime soon, the Space Force has been looking to bolster its modeling-and-simulation technology in order to improve personnel readiness and accurately test new capabilities. Shannon Pallone, program executive officer for battle management command, control and communications (BMC3), noted that the I3E is one investment in the Space Force’s digital environment.

“Leveraging emerging game-changers like I3E enhances our ability to gain situational awareness and enable decision-makers to act at a higher velocity than our adversaries,” Pallone said in a statement.

Although the I3E is currently only available at a location in Los Angeles, the Space Force plans to scale the platform so that guardians can access it from anywhere via a “virtual desktop,” according to the service. In addition, the Space Force is pursuing accreditation so that the I3E can host classified and unclassified data — meaning capability prototypes could more quickly be tested and transitioned into operations.

“Continuing the development and deployment of the I3E is going to pay huge dividends for our Guardians,” Col. Richard Kniseley, senior materiel leader for the Commercial Space Office at SSC, said in a statement. “Linking numerous sites together through the robust digital ecosystem provides an unrivaled experience to better understand the space domain.”

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IVAS is one of the Army’s highest-priority modernization initiatives for its soldier system portfolio. The technology includes a ruggedized augmented reality and heads-up display system based on Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 device. The service aims to use the capability for both training and battlefield operations for dismounted troops.

The new variant, known as IVAS 1.2, was developed to address soldier complaints stemming from testing of previous versions.

After receiving positive feedback from the initial cadre of troops that tested the system 1.2 in recent weeks, the Army’s top weapons buyer gave the green light to order more systems for what he called “the next step in rapid prototyping.”

“We fundamentally re-engineered the system to be a better fit for soldiers and how they do their infantry mission in terms of how they wear it, while also improving some of the technology problems with sensors and software. So, it’s early, but early returns from some initial testing with soldiers at Fort Drum [in New York] was very positive. That gave me confidence to move to the next step in the rapid prototyping program for this,” Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Doug Bush told reporters during a roundtable at the Pentagon this week.

On Thursday, Program Executive Office Soldier told DefenseScoop that for phase two Microsoft has been tasked to develop and deliver 280 pre-production and “production representative” IVAS 1.2 systems and 11 soldier immersive virtual trainers to support planned testing during fiscal 2024, culminating in an “operational test” in fiscal 2025. The service has awarded the company $95 million for that effort.

The program could be worth as much as $21.9 billion if it comes to full fruition.

The Army is looking to potentially field an improved IVAS by the end of fiscal 2025.

The next phase of the effort includes “building more systems, and then doing more testing [of] it with more soldiers,” Bush told DefenseScoop at the roundtable without providing more details about the quantity of additional systems that would be needed for that.

“We are though going in a step-by-step fashion. We’re going to develop, test, develop, test, develop, test … and gather a body of knowledge that gives us confidence in the system before we … get into actual production, especially production at scale. So, it is a bit of a different approach than the first time around, but I think early returns are positive, which is a good thing to see,” Bush said.

The augmented reality headsets are expected to give troops the ability to see through smoke, around corners, and in the dark using advanced sensors; leverage holographic imagery; and display 3D terrain maps and project a compass into a soldier’s field of vision.

“I think the challenges we had the first time around were the software in terms of stability, you know, it just has to work better,” Bush said. Sensors were also an issue.

“IVAS is attempting to be both kind of a night division device and an augmented reality device in one … What we call a NVD or night vision device, uses a tube to amplify the light. IVAS is doing that with effectively a night camera. So, we think this new version of that camera, apparently, in early tests performed very well,” he added.

But the technology still needs to be put through its paces more.

“We have to see. So, you know, a camera can work really well when there’s a little moon light. But then you go into a dense canopy of trees and it’s pitch dark — how well does it work? I mean, this is the level of testing we’ll have to get to,” Bush said.

Soldiers had also complained about the fit and form factor of previous iterations.

“It had the giant cable coming out of the side … The giant cable is gone [now]. So, it’s now really all in the head [gear] with a control device here that’s connected with a very small wire. And we aspire to a wireless control so soldiers could put the controller anywhere. So it’s not perfect, but we think this form factor … is just way closer to what is something [that’s] really usable for an infantry soldier,” Bush told reporters.

In July after the initial IVAS 1.2 systems were delivered, Microsoft told DefenseScoop in a statement: “Microsoft is collaborating closely with the U.S. Army to develop the next iteration of the IVAS headset that improves on earlier variants with a slimmer, lighter and more balanced form factor to greatly improve soldier comfort and performance. Our delivery of the initial set of IVAS 1.2 devices this month is three months ahead of schedule and part of our commitment to move with speed to deliver on this critical program.”

However, if the company’s tech ultimately doesn’t pan out the way the Army hopes it will, Bush has suggested that the service could turn to other vendors.

“We have a requirement for a capability. So, I think this is on a good track. But were it to not work out, we would likely just do a new competition, perhaps with somewhat different requirements to see what else is out there, if there’s other companies that could come to the table,” he told DefenseScoop in July during a tech expo on Capitol Hill where an IVAS 1.2 system was on display. “I think there are other companies in this space … There’s a lot of companies doing, you know, augmented reality and wearable tech. So, if we can’t [go with IVAS], if it comes to that, I think we’d have a competitive environment to take advantage of.”

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The IVAS program is one of the Army’s highest-priority modernization initiatives for its soldier system portfolio. The technology includes a ruggedized augmented reality and heads-up display system based on Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 device. The company won a contract worth up to $21.9 billion contract in 2021 to develop and manufacture the tech for the Army, which plans to acquire more than 100,000 systems over the coming years.

The augmented reality headsets are expected to give troops the ability to see through smoke, around corners, and in the dark using advanced sensors; leverage holographic imagery; and display 3D terrain maps and project a compass into a soldier’s field of vision. The Army hopes to be able to use them in training environments and on the battlefield.

The Army received IVAS 1.2 earlier this week and it plans to start conducting “soldier touch points” beginning next month to give potential end users the opportunity to put the capability through its paces and provide feedback.

Soldiers had complaints about an earlier version, IVAS 1.0, after testing last year.

“The results of the Ops Demo show user acceptance remains low. Soldiers prefer their current equipment … to IVAS. The majority of soldiers reported at least one symptom of physical impairment to include disorientation, dizziness, eyestrain, headaches, motion sickness and nausea, neck strain and tunnel vision. Soldiers cited IVAS 1.0’s poor low-light performance, display quality, cumbersomeness, poor reliability, inability to distinguish friend from foe, difficulty shooting, physical impairments and limited peripheral vision as reasons for their dissatisfaction,” according to a report from the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation.

The Army awarded a task order to Microsoft earlier this year to start developing version 1.2 to address problems with previous iterations.

“The new version of it, if you try it on, I think it’s definitely in the right direction. We’ll know more though once soldiers get a hold of it and actually wear it,” Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Doug Bush said on the sidelines of an Army Futures Command technology display on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. “Wearing it like this [at an indoor demo] is one thing, but when you have everything else on, it has to work there too. So again, we’ll know more. We’re gonna go test it out.”

The upcoming experiments involving soldiers will be “a very important data point for us,” he said.

“However, it’s not an operational test, it’s a soldier touch point. So, some of what we get back sometimes is anecdotal or you know, I would call it a little bit more subjective … feedback. But that’s OK. But that’ll give us a good initial read like if we’re headed in the right direction. And then we have to go to more and more difficult tests … as we get more prototypes,” he added.

DefenseScoop was able to try on an IVAS 1.2 headset Wednesday and play around with the heads-up display features, including night vision and thermal sensing. That aspect of the technology was impressive, but the system — which still weighs more than 3 pounds — felt heavy and seemed like it could cause neck strain for soldiers who wear it for extended periods of time.

If the tech ultimately doesn’t pan out the way the Army hopes it will, other vendors could be tapped, Bush suggested.

“We have a requirement for a capability. So, I think this is on a good track. But were it to not work out, we would likely just do a new competition, perhaps with somewhat different requirements to see what else is out there, if there’s other companies that could come to the table,” he told DefenseScoop. “I think there are other companies in this space … There’s a lot of companies doing, you know, augmented reality and wearable tech. So, if we can’t [go with IVAS], if it comes to that, I think we’d have a competitive environment to take advantage of.”

The Army currently has enhanced night-vision goggles that it can continue to field while it pursues IVAS or something else like it, he noted.

The service is looking to potentially field an improved IVAS by the end of fiscal 2025.

“We can keep fielding [other] good things, you know, if we need to take longer to get that one right,” Bush said. “We’ll see. But the requirement I think is still valid to have wearable tech beyond just night vision, at some point, for infantry soldiers. So, I think the infantry community still wants the capability one way or the other.”

It’s ultimately up to the secretary of the Army to decide whether the service should pull the plug on IVAS, he noted.

In May, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told lawmakers during a hearing that the service will use funding provided by Congress in the next fiscal year to work with Microsoft “to get the system to a place where our soldiers will want to use it. And if Microsoft isn’t able to do that, we will not develop the program further … We’re not going to spend $22 billion on a system if it doesn’t work.”

If the Army ultimately ditches IVAS, Bush doesn’t expect that to be the end of its pursuit of a new high-tech visual augmentation system.

“It’s ultimately up to the secretary but, you know, like I said, we still need the capability, we still want it. So a normal thing to do if an effort has to wind down … [and] the Army still wants that capability, you know, another market survey and a competition to see what’s out there would be kind of your standard steps,” Bush said.

“But right now, we’re committed to this [IVAS program], getting this one right the best we can. So, we’ll see. But I think like you said, there’s other companies in the space, which is good. There’s a lot of private investment in this space because you know wearable tech and that augmented reality is something that’s coming in the commercial sector. So, I think if we end up in that place, I think hopefully we’ll have some choices. But Microsoft has performed well on [IVAS 1.2]. I think we’ve got a much, much better system. But we’ll see through testing,” he added.

On Friday, DefenseScoop received the following statement from a Microsoft spokesperson: “Microsoft is collaborating closely with the US Army to develop the next iteration of the IVAS headset that improves on earlier variants with a slimmer, lighter and more balanced form factor to greatly improve soldier comfort and performance. Our delivery of the initial set of IVAS 1.2 devices this month is three months ahead of schedule and part of our commitment to move with speed to deliver on this critical program.”

Updated on July 28, 2023 at 12:20 PM: This story has been updated to include a comment from a Microsoft spokesperson.

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“We have to figure out a way to train at a larger distance than we are today,” Rear Adm. Andrew Loiselle, director of Air Warfare Division, N98, in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said Monday during a panel at the 2023 Sea-Air-Space conference. 

To do that, the Navy is looking into a new concept deemed Strike Group Mobile Open Ocean Virtual Range, or SGMOOVR, Loiselle announced.

Broadly, LVC training applies real-life, in-person elements with augmented and virtual reality simulation and other computer-generated solutions to ultimately help service members train more like they actually fight in preparation for future conflicts. 

The Navy has made a lot of progress in its engineering and implementation of LVC training for different scenarios over the last several years. But fresh challenges are also surfacing. 

“The weapon systems that we’re developing these days are significantly longer-range than those that we have trained with in the past. And as we do that, we need the range infrastructure that will support that level of training,” Loiselle told DefenseScoop after the panel. 

“Most of the ranges over land are simply not large enough to conduct that training anymore — so that training is moving out over the water. And when you’re talking about training your ranges like that, you oftentimes are limited by the towers that are land-based that can receive the signals. So, the object is to build out something that is no longer limited by land base,” he explained.

Before each Navy carrier strike group departs for a real-world mission, it must complete a Composite Training Unit Exercise or COMPTUEX. During the panel, Loiselle pointed to those exercises to demonstrate what Navy officials envision with this new SGMOOVR concept.

“If you’re familiar with how we conduct a COMPTUEX off the coast — we’re now taking that command-and-control facility and we’re bringing it aboard our aircraft carriers, such that we can use an aircraft carrier as a central node,” and then essentially “develop a large training range central to that aircraft carrier so that we can get to the deployed training piece of this,” he explained.

Still, little is known publicly about SGMOOVR — and it is not a guarantee the Navy will scale it beyond the exploratory phase.

“It’s still a concept and pre-decisional,” a Navy spokesperson told DefenseScoop in an email Monday.

“Strike Group Mobile Open Ocean Virtual Range (SGMOOVR) is a concept to replicate ashore training range capabilities afloat. The concept is to embark an exercise control element and Tactical Combat Training System Increment II (TCTS II) on board a [nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, or] CVN,” the spokesperson said. 

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The IVAS program is one of the Army’s highest-priority modernization initiatives for its soldier system portfolio. The technology includes a ruggedized augmented reality and heads-up display system based on Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 device.

Microsoft won a $21.9 billion contract in 2021 to build IVAS for the Army, which plans to acquire about 120,000 sets over the coming years.

Last month, the service awarded a task order to the tech giant for a new variant, known as 1.2, of the equipment.

“IVAS 1.2 will include a new form factor to address Human Systems Integration, including physiological impacts identified during testing, and a lower profile heads-up display with distributed counterweight for improved user interface and comfort. IVAS 1.2 will also include software improvements for increased reliability and reduced power demand,” according to an Army press release issued Thursday.

IVAS 1.0 provides what the Army describes as “baseline warfighter capability,” while the 1.1 variant includes an improved low-light sensor to aid maneuver and target identification. Version 1.2 will also include the improvements that were made for 1.1.

The service plans to begin incremental fielding of the initial versions of the visual augmentation system in September. Delivery orders for IVAS 1.2 production systems won’t be placed until after qualification and operational testing of the technology, per the release.

Meanwhile, Army officials are touting the advantages that the headsets and associated tech are expected to bring.

“The IVAS is designed for dismounted close-combat force Soldiers to integrate key technology systems into one device enhancing situational awareness, lethality, survivability, maneuverability and other warfighter capabilities, to include synchronization with Soldiers in armored vehicles and helicopters,” the Army said in a Jan. 3 news release.

“IVAS provides Soldiers a field of view nearly twice as wide as those offered by current systems. It is capable of navigation and passive target interrogation, which allows users to identify targets without being seen by opposing forces,” it added.

The “mixed-reality” headset gives troops the ability to see through smoke, around corners, and in the dark using advanced sensors; leverages holographic imagery; and can display 3D terrain maps and project a compass into a soldier’s field of vision, according to the Army.

However, the program has experienced problems.

In a report issued last April following an audit, the Army Inspector General found that the service hadn’t set minimum user acceptance levels for the forthcoming IVAS, which it said are necessary to determine if the headset will meet users’ needs.

Lawmakers have also been wary. The 2022 fiscal Consolidated Appropriations Act put a hold on $349 million in funding for IVAS until the Army addressed Congress’ concerns.

In October 2021, the Army announced a several-month delay in bringing IVAS into operational testing after discovering issues with the headset’s field of view.

In October 2022, Bloomberg reported that the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation found that soldiers who had recently tested the IVAS suffered from “mission-affecting physical impairments” such as headaches, eyestrain and nausea.

During the AUSA convention in October, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Doug Bush acknowledged that the program has experienced hiccups.

“We are showing flexibility but also, I think, thoughtfully managing technology risk. It’s a good example of a program that was on a very rapid path. Unsurprising, we’ve run into some technology challenges. But we have a way to fix them and a way to go forward,” Bush said.

To date, the Army has conducted over 30 soldier test events and more than 100 “technical sub-tests” for IVAS, with more than 1,000 troops providing user feedback, according to the Army.

“These tests validated the system’s continued progress while identifying areas for focused improvements,” per the release.

Based on the outcome of an operational test last summer, major focus areas for the IVAS program will be software stability, low-light performance, and form factor, according to Bush.

The software must be stable across a range of missions and uptime, he noted at the AUSA conference in October.

Moreover, “a critical difference between IVAS and older systems — it’s moving from an analog way to do low-light sensing to a digital way with the camera. Improving that camera will be absolutely vital. And then finally, making sure that the form factor … also has to be adjusted to something that adapts to what the soldiers want and need to do their missions. So those are our three focus areas coming out of that test,” he said then.

The Army aims to incrementally improve the technology over time.

The service is on a path to field a “relatively small number” of IVAS 1.0 and 1.1 systems, Bush said, describing version 1.2 as “kind of, at this point, our objective system.”

Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.

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