Tech giant Meta and defense startup Anduril Industries announced an unexpected partnership on June 8, 2025, to jointly develop an advanced XR (mixed reality) headset called EagleEye for the US Army. As reported by leading publications, including TechCrunch and The Wall Street Journal, this move not only signifies a deepening of Big Tech's ties with the military-industrial complex (MIC) but also creates a direct and powerful competitor to Microsoft in this domain. Adding a compelling twist to the situation is the fact that Anduril was founded by Palmer Luckey, the creator of Oculus, which Meta acquired in 2014. Now, Luckey, leveraging the technologies of his former creation, is re-entering the game, but this time as a partner-competitor in the defense sector. The EagleEye project, which will utilize virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies as well as Meta's advancements in artificial intelligence, is privately funded. The companies openly state their intention to compete for a portion of the contracts within a massive $22 billion defense initiative where Microsoft, with its IVAS project based on HoloLens glasses, has faced significant difficulties and criticism from the military. It is anticipated that the EagleEye headset will be used for tactical planning, training soldiers in highly realistic simulated environments, and providing critical real-time information to soldiers on the battlefield. This collaboration, despite the inevitable ethical debates within society and Meta itself, demonstrates a powerful trend of convergence between consumer technology and defense innovation, where AI and XR play a key role in modernizing armed forces.
Meta and Defense Startup Anduril to Create EagleEye XR Headset for US Army
