Anduril Details $159 Million Military Smart Glasses, Envisioning Eye-Tracked Drone Strikes
Updated
Updated · MIT Technology Review · May 18
Anduril Details $159 Million Military Smart Glasses, Envisioning Eye-Tracked Drone Strikes
1 articles · Updated · MIT Technology Review · May 18
Anduril said its military AR headsets with Meta are being designed to let soldiers cue drones, navigate and request support through voice commands, eye movements and taps, with strike recommendations still routed through the normal chain of command.
The prototypes would overlay maps, drone positions and AI target recognition in a soldier’s view, while large language models including Gemini, Llama and Claude translate plain-language requests into actions inside Anduril’s Lattice battlefield software.
Two programs are underway: the Army’s Soldier Born Mission Command effort, where Anduril won a $159 million prototype contract last year, and EagleEye, a self-funded helmet-headset system the company hopes to sell to the military or foreign buyers.
Deployment remains years away: the Army is not expected to choose an SBMC production path until 2028, and the hardware must still prove it can survive dust, smoke and blasts while running AI locally without Chinese-linked supply chains.
The push comes after Microsoft lost a potential $22 billion Army production deal, and researchers warn smart glasses that identify threats and suggest strikes could worsen cognitive overload and introduce new AI error risks on the front line.
After Microsoft's failure, can Anduril's AR headsets avoid overloading soldiers with data?
Will brain-computer interfaces make these AR headsets obsolete before their 2028 deployment?
When AI suggests targets through a soldier's eyes, who is truly accountable for a fatal error?
Next-Gen Soldier Tech: Anduril’s EagleEye AR Helmet and the U.S. Army’s $500M SBMC Contract Award (2025)
Overview
In September 2025, the U.S. Army awarded Anduril Industries a major contract to develop the EagleEye system, marking a strategic shift in soldier-worn technology. EagleEye is a key part of the Soldier Borne Mission Command (SBMC) program and builds on lessons learned from previous efforts like the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS). The system’s design was shaped by over 260,000 hours of soldier feedback, ensuring it meets real operational needs. By integrating advanced capabilities into a unified, soldier-focused platform, EagleEye aims to enhance battlefield awareness and effectiveness for the next generation of Army personnel.