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

Oops, so where do we even start with this whole Palmer Luckey saga? First off, there’s this guy Luckey, right? Kinda tech whiz and a controversial figure at times. He kickstarted the VR craze with Oculus back in 2012—remember those headsets? Yeah, they were cool but a bit clunky, like trying to wear a toaster on your face. Not sure why that image sticks, but here we are.

Anyway, Facebook—before it was Meta, mind you—saw the potential in VR or maybe just got curious and threw over $2 billion at it. Yup, billion with a “B.” So, Luckey hung around for a while with them, until—bam—politics got in the way. Happens more often than we’d like, doesn’t it? He left, whether jumped or pushed, who really knows except those boardrooms?

Not one to sit around, Luckey founded Anduril. Sounds futuristic, huh? This company mixes high-tech with defense stuff—drones, sensors, and all that jazz. Recently, they took over Microsoft’s AR helmet project for the Army. The name “IVAS” just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Anyway, somewhere between reality and sci-fi, that’s where his tech sits.

Now things take another twist—seems Anduril and Meta are teaming up to craft what they claim are the best AR/VR tools for the military. Like, we’re talking Iron Man meets… I don’t know, some military sci-fi movie? Meta and Anduril claim no taxpayer money is involved, which is always nice to hear, isn’t it?

Luckey mentioned he’s thrilled to collab with Meta again. Yeah, the same Meta he kinda unceremoniously left. Life’s funny like that. He wants to turn soldiers into technomancers—yes, that’s a real word he used. If you’re scratching your head, you’re not alone.

Weirdly enough, even Meta’s top guys, Zuckerberg and Bosworth, who might’ve clashed with Luckey back in the day, are now on board. The tech world’s like a high school reunion with more zeros in bank accounts. What can I say?

So, what’s cooking between Anduril and Meta? Mostly, they’re putting their heads together to develop these high-tech AR helmets for soldiers—some billion-dollar gig originally Microsoft’s baby. It’s immersed in so much tech-jargon it could make your head spin. But they’ll try to put soldiers on a whole new playing field, tech-wise.

And there you have it—Luckey’s wild ride back to the fold. Warfighters are prepping to become some high-tech wizards on the battlefield, with a little help from meta-world gurus. Who’d have thought, huh?