Meta Collaborates with Former Oculus Founder’s Company to Develop Leading AR and VR Systems for the US Military

So, here’s this wild ride about Palmer Luckey and the tangled web between his military tech shenanigans with Anduril and a cozy throwback team-up with Meta. Can you imagine that? A guy booted for his politics, doing a 180 and partnering with the folks who showed him the door. That’s gotta make for drama better than any Netflix binge, right?

Once upon a time, there was Oculus. Remember those clunky VR headsets that seemed like the future? Palmer was the mad hatter behind it. Oculus got gobbled up by the behemoth then known as Facebook, and just like that, nearly two billion bucks changed hands. Fast forward a bit – politics, drama, and out Palmer went. Enter Anduril, his next act in the tech-defense circus, now valued in the billions too. It’s like he can’t stop finding gold mines… Meanwhile, Anduril’s churning out futuristic gear for the military, including, uh, drones and sensors. You know, just typical stuff.

A side note here – Microsoft had this IVAS program. AR helmets for the U.S. Army. And you could say it was floundering a bit. So, who swoops in? Yeah, Anduril. They’re now running the show and—here’s a twist—they’re tagging Meta in to help with the “world’s best” AR and VR gear for the military. Bold claim, huh?

Oh, right, more corporate mumbo jumbo: both companies have sunk a decade of cash and nerdy know-how into gadgets and AI. And it’s privately funded, avoiding those taxpayer side-eyes. The pitch? Save Uncle Sam billions by repurposing consumer tech for battlefield use. Fancy talk, huh?

Luckey, in all his tech-visionary glory, is giddy to be back with Meta. Talk about coming full circle. His dream? Turn soldiers into some sort of tech-sorcerers. Yup, technomancers. Sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi novel. Meta’s top dogs, Zuckerberg and Boz too (that’s Andrew Bosworth if you’re not on a nickname basis), they’re all in, smoothing over past bumps for this project.

In essence, there’s this mega project. Big money, high stakes—building AR helmets for soldiers. Initially a Microsoft gig, now it’s all hands on deck with Anduril and Meta playing tech tag team. What could possibly go wrong? Who knows, but it sure ain’t boring.