Futuristic Army “Augmented Reality” Goggles Change Attack Tactics

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byKris Osborn– Warrior Maven

(Washington D.C.) If an infantry soldier is under enemy fire from multiple directions, altitudes, and ranges, what are the boundaries of human perception defining how to best respond to the attack?

This question offers a window into an interesting technical and scientific challenge now being addressed by U.S. Army weapons developers who are working with soldiers to test and adjust requirements on a high-tech sensor system able to “augment” and improve key characteristics of human vision and perception such as angle, range, distance or multiple variables at one time. 

Army Futures Command is further refining a cutting edge combat system for soldiers which uses augmented visual reality technology to change the equation regarding how infantry might navigate close-quarter combat while under enemy fire. 

The technology, called the Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), are soldier goggles built with sensors to help soldiers operate beyond the limitations otherwise imposed by human vision. The Army plans to deploy 200,000 of the headsets in 2021, a service statement said. 

“IVAS is designed to enhance the lethality and survivability of the Army’s Close Combat Force through a combination of technologies and augmented reality capabilities delivered in the form of a Heads-Up Display device. It is a single platform that allows the Soldier to fight, rehearse, and train, because it leverages networked information sharing and mixed and augmented reality technologies,” an Army report said.