Congress Rejects US Army's Request to Purchase Microsoft Combat Goggles

Microsoft Corp. will not be getting more orders of HoloLens Goggles from the U.S. Military, as congress blocked the $400 million purchase. This decision reflects several concerns from the authorities over field tests that disclosed "mission-affecting physical impairments."

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GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA - APRIL 8: U.S Army specialist Marcus Morris from Gardner, Massachussetts mans his machine gun atop a humvee as he participates in a driving patrol April 8, 2004 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The base serves as a detention facility for prisoners captured in the war in Afghanistan. On April 20, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to consider whether the detainees can ask U.S. courts to review their cases.

Blocking HoloLens Goggles Purchase

Last December, Bloomberg reported that the US Army gave Microsoft a "task order" that costs $125 million to create a revamped HoloLens Goggles labeled version 1.2, which funding came from the appropriations from the previous year.

But even though the company promised to improve its technology, the United States Congress blocked the request of the US Army to purchase $400 million Microsoft HoloLens Goggles as they found "mission-affecting physical impairments" that 70 soldiers suffered during field tests.

As per Engadget's report, this includes headaches, eyestrain, and nausea during the three 72-hour scenarios simulating the conditions of the goggles. Aside from these, the system had too many failures of essential functions, and 80% of the soldiers reported discomfort.

The US Army was supposed to purchase $400 million from Microsoft for 6,900 pairs of combat goggles, which comes from the $1.75 trillion government funding bill. But since the request was blocked, Congress instead approved a $40 million funding for Microsoft to develop an improved version.

Despite this, the authorities still consider spending up to $21.9 billion for this deal in the next ten years, which totals up to 121,000 devices. CNET reported that his model will address "physiological" issues that will be identified during tests.

A spokesperson stated that they are "committed to working with the Army to further develop Integrated Visual Augmentation System technology.The regular cadence of building and testing IVAS will help us refine and improve the technology to ensure it brings unparalleled protection and capabilities to America's Soldiers"

Supplying US Army

The first batch of Integrated Visual Augmentation System goggles that was built with its HoloLens precursor's mixed reality was approved by the Army last September 2022. 5,000 goggles were cleared and delivered to the authorities despite seeing concerns about its performance.

During its early stages, employees also informed their executives that this deal had crossed the line as NPR reported that workers were describing the technology as "designed to help people kill."

Due to this, several employees demanded the company to end this contract with the military, hence, the delayed production and deliveries of the goggles. Microsoft then established an "Acceptable Use Policy," which a separate ethical review board looked through to ensure that this policy is being followed.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella stated that his position is based on his principled decision to protect the freedoms that they enjoy.