Fun fact. The military started using AR at the start of the Iraq invasion. Product was essentially Google Glass with facial recognition against a static/ local dataset (stored on device), but in 2004 - for identifying wanted suspects at checkpoints.
Was produced by a company called Osterhout Design Group. Ralph Osterhout also had the distinction of creating the PVS-7 Night Vision goggles in 3 months - still used to this day.
Ralph was a pioneer in waveguide technology that went into ODG's AR glasses. The display tech from the Hololens? Licensed from ODG. Time is a flat circle I suppose.
What’ll be interesting to watch there is the learning curve on what should go on an AR display in the middle of a firefight - various branches of the US military seem to follow a similar curve where they get very excited about technology and massively invest, only to find that 70lbs of networked infantry gear or a naval destroyer full of screens or a jet with no guns doesn’t actually enhance lethality the way the guys at General Dynamics said it would. Usually V2 is a bit more sane/practical, so I’ll be interested to see where they land on the HUDs.