New in 2021: Futuristic do-it-all goggle for soldiers, Marines will begin fielding in 2021 December 31, 2020 Soldiers and Marines completed a company-sized field exercise, testing the new Integrated Visual Augmentation System. The IVAS is expected to begin fielding in 2021. (Army) The Army’s leap-ahead device for infantry soldiers, Marines and other frontline fighters is expected to be in soldiers’ hands in 2021 ― but recent funding cuts might curtail the service’s lofty ambitions. About two years ago the Army partnered with Microsoft, using the company’s augmented reality goggle the HoloLens as a starting point. The device allows users to “see” virtual representations in their real-world field of view.
By
Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on December 29, 2020 at 3:40 PM
Soldiers check out the latest, ruggedized version of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) during trials at Fort Pickett.
WASHINGTON: The Army may have to slash troop strength and training to save its ambitious modernization program from the likely post-COVID budget crunch.
Painful choices are already painfully familiar to the Army. Even in the flush years of the Trump Administration, the Army largely funded its new weapons by cutting lower-priority programs. In 2021, the service will face Democratic control of the White House, the House of Representatives, and potentially the Senate, amidst the national fiscal hangover from trillions in COVID stimulus spending. The Army’s own former Chief of Staff, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, has predicted a “bloodletting” of ground-force programs to fund sea, air, and space technologies more essential to counter to China.
Here s a look at five weapons-related programs Military.com has reported on this year:
Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division used the latest prototype of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) during a trench clearing exercise in October at Fort Pickett, Virginia. The event was part of a larger Soldier Touchpoint, the third major milestone in the development and testing of the IVAS, which will undergo one more STP in the spring before initial fielding next year. (U.S. Army Photo by Bridgett Siter)
1. Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS).
In October, Army modernization officials finished the third soldier touch point (STP) in which troops evaluated the first ruggedized version of IVAS. The Microsoft-designed goggles are intended to provide a heads-up display that offers infantry troops situational awareness tools to help them navigate, communicate and keep track of other members of their unit day and night.
Army Will Let Makers Decide How Many Soldiers to Fit Inside New Fighting Vehicle
A soldier guides an M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle during an exercise at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria, on Aug. 23, 2018. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Jamar Marcel Pugh)
18 Dec 2020
The program to replace the Army s venerable Bradley Fighting Vehicle took a major step forward Friday with a new request for proposals that gives an unprecedented amount of decision-making power to companies on how to meet the service s objectives.
Rather than releasing a list of specifications and requirements as it has in the past, the service is offering prospective makers nine broader characteristics for the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle that underscore what it needs to do. The Army is not even demanding a specific size or passenger capacity for the OMFV, allowing competing companies to get creative.
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IVAS lets soldiers see 3D maps, through smoke and peek around corners.
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New military goggles give soldiers a unique way to see the battlefield.U.S. Army
It sounds straight out of science fiction, but new futuristic combat goggles developed for the U.S. Army will transform how soldiers see the battlefield and cut through the fog of war.
The goggles are known as IVAS, the acronym for the Integrated Visual Augmentation System, that projects 3D terrain maps over what soldiers see directly in front of them and allows troops to see in the dark, through smoke and even around corners.