Microsoft has landed a multimillion-dollar contract with the US army to make mixed-reality headsets for soldiers

• The US army said it has given a contract to Microsoft to produce mixed-reality headsets for troops.
• Microsoft has already been working on a specialized headset design with the army for two years.
• A company spokesperson told Reuters the contract could be worth up to $21.88 billion over 10 years.

Microsoft and the US army announced a new partnership on Wednesday, in which the tech giant will build mixed-reality headsets for soldiers.

Microsoft will adapt its existing HoloLens headset for the new prototype, which is called the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), the company said in a blog post.

The company has already been designing the specialised headset for two years, and Wednesday's announcement marks it moving into the production phase.

Microsoft said the headsets will give soldiers "enhanced situational awareness, enabling information sharing and decision-making in a variety of scenarios." The US army added in a press announcement that the headsets will provide "next-generation night vision."

The army's statement suggested the headsets would be used in training and in the field. "The IVAS aggregates multiple technologies into an architecture that allows the Soldier to Fight, Rehearse, and Train using a single platform," it said.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters the contract could be worth as much as $21.88 billion over 10 years.

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Microsoft's president, Brad Smith, touted the partnership on Twitter. "For two centuries, technology has been changing the nature of what is needed to defend a nation," he said.

"We are longtime supporters of the @DeptofDefense and @USArmy's effort to modernize the US Military through advanced technology," he added.

An internal employee activism group, Microsoft Workers 4 Good, expressed its displeasure at the contract.

"We would much rather Microsoft used today to stand up for Transgender people everywhere on Transgender Day of Visibility, instead of building weapons of war," the group said in a statement.