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

Alright, let’s dive into this chaotic journey of Palmer Luckey. So, here’s this guy, right? Palmer Luckey, big name in the VR-AR world, just snapped up a partnership with Meta—yeah, that Meta, formerly Facebook—to crank out some top-notch tech toys for the US military. This is like the plot twist you’d expect in a Netflix doc about tech moguls or something. It’s wild.

Let’s rewind. Luckey kicked off Oculus in 2012, you know, the whole Rift headset thing that jump-started VR again? Yep, that was him. Facebook, or Meta now (why do companies rename themselves, anyway?), gobbled Oculus up in 2014 for a cool $2 billion. That’s with a ‘b,’ not a typo. He hung around Meta until a, let’s call it, ‘disagreement’ over his political views nudged him out. Eh, happens in tech. Or life.

Skipping forward, Luckey launched Anduril. Picture this: tech-defense startup with a multi-billion dollar shine. And not to brag or anything, but they’ve been dabbling in XR tech alongside traditional military stuff like drones. Drones! And they picked up where Microsoft kinda left off with that IVAS program—imagine AR helmets for the US Army. High-tech headgear. Sci-fi reality, my friends.

Now, here we are, Anduril teaming up with Meta. Plot twist! The mission: build, quote, “the world’s best AR and VR systems for the US military.” Bold claim, right? But hey, they’re throwing decades of hardware, software, and AI magic at this thing, and supposedly without leaning on taxpayer dollars. They swear it’ll save the military billions by repurposing commercial tech for battlefield antics. Plug in some high-performance components and voila!

Luckey’s all jazzed about being back with Meta. He talks about turning soldiers into “technomancers.” Seriously, who uses that word? It’s like he’s summoning magic or something. And fun fact, Meta’s big dogs—Zuck and Bosworth—are all in on this too. Remember when they and Luckey weren’t best buds? Water under the bridge, it seems.

So what’s the real deal? Apparently, a lot hinges on this headset—part of the IVAS effort to kit soldiers with AR helmets. Microsoft was in, now Anduril is playing director, with Meta’s tech brainpower in tow. Oh, and this program? It’s priced at, um, $20 billion. No pressure or anything.

And that’s that. Or is it? Who knows where this tale twists next. Forget popcorn, this is a VR ride worth watching. If chaos and tech are your thing, strap in.