US Army may be about to 'waste' up to $22b on Microsoft HoloLens
(2022/04/26)
- Reference: 1650937600
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/04/26/army_microsoft_headset/
- Source link:
The US Army could end up wasting much as $22 billion in taxpayer cash if soldiers aren't actually interested in using, or able to use as intended, the Microsoft HoloLens headsets it said it would purchase, a government watchdog has warned.
In 2018, the American military [1]splashed $480 million on 100,000 prototype augmented-reality goggles from Redmond to see how they could help soldiers train for and fight in combat. The Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) project was expanded when the Army decided it wanted the Windows giant to make custom, battle-ready AR headsets in a ten-year deal worth up to [2]$22 billion .
The project was [3]delayed and is reportedly scheduled to roll out some time this year. But the US Dept of Defense's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) cast some doubt on whether it was worth it at all.
[4]
"Procuring IVAS without attaining user acceptance could result in wasting up to $21.88 billion in taxpayer funds to field a system that soldiers may not want to use or use as intended," the Pentagon oversight body wrote in [5]an audit [PDF] report this month.
[6]
[7]
In other words, the Army hasn't yet fully determined if or how service members will find these HoloLens headsets valuable in the field. Although the heavily redacted report did not reveal soldiers' responses to the prototype testing, it said feedback from surveys showed "both positive and negative user acceptance."
[8]
Horror-lens .. Microsoft-supplied photo of a US soldier wearing its HoloLens-based headgear
The Army plans to purchase 121,500 IVAS units from Microsoft while admitting that "if soldiers do not love IVAS and do not find it greatly enhances accomplishing the mission, then soldiers will not use it," the report disclosed.
A Microsoft spokesperson told The Register in a statement: "Our focus continues to be on developing IVAS to be a transformational platform that will deliver enhanced soldier safety and effectiveness."
In a rebuttal to the OIG's audit, Douglas Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said the $21.88 billion was double what the military would likely at most spend, and was – in a way – a worst-case scenario figure.
[9]
"This is a contract ceiling that includes all possible hardware, components, and services over a ten-year period at the worst possible pricing structure. Less than half of this total is possible for the US Army. This total includes all possible sales to all sister services, foreign military sales, and all maximized service contracts," he wrote.
[10]See this, Google? Microsoft happy to take a half-billion in sweet, sweet US military money to 'increase lethality'
[11]Pentagon pal Microsoft to supply US Army with 120,000+ HoloLens units in contract somehow worth 'up to $22bn'
[12]Microsoft accidentally bricks Insider HoloLens 2 devices
[13]US Army develops natural-language voice-command AI for robots, tanks, etc. For search'n'rescue. For now
Bush insisted the Army has a policy to eventually test and evaluate whether or not personnel will use equipment such as Microsoft's AR techno-specs. He also disagreed that immediate user acceptance was necessary for determining whether the IVAS program would be worthwhile, and pointed out soldiers did not like night-vision goggles when they were introduced in the 1970s. But over time, they became more experienced with the technology ad developed tactics around it. Now, they are widely adopted by the Army. In other words: it's too early to tell for sure whether soldiers will use the AR technology or find it useful, according to Bush.
Feedback is also subjective, Bush noted. Acceptance was influenced by a soldier's level of fatigue, weather conditions, and familiarity with the tech.
However, "Army officials should have established user acceptance measurements at the beginning of the program to ensure that user needs were met," the OIG argued.
"While we agree there is inherent tension between user acceptance and opportunity, having an established measurement or goal enables officials to know that close combat forces accept, want to use, and can function effectively with IVAS."
[14]
In short: before you blow up billions on a project like this, do some more investigating. The US Army did not immediately respond to The Register 's request for further comment. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2018/11/29/microsoft_military_money/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/31/microsoft_us_army_hololens_contract/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/15/us_army_delays_microsoft_ivas_vr_project/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Ymduaq@P1iNyB8SV2R1OCQAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://media.defense.gov/2022/Apr/22/2002981953/-1/-1/1/DODIG-2022-085.PDF
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ymduaq@P1iNyB8SV2R1OCQAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Ymduaq@P1iNyB8SV2R1OCQAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/03/31/pr_handout_hololens_microsoft.jpg
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ymduaq@P1iNyB8SV2R1OCQAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2018/11/29/microsoft_military_money/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/31/microsoft_us_army_hololens_contract/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/10/hololens_brick/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/21/military_judi_ai/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Ymduaq@P1iNyB8SV2R1OCQAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In 2018, the American military [1]splashed $480 million on 100,000 prototype augmented-reality goggles from Redmond to see how they could help soldiers train for and fight in combat. The Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) project was expanded when the Army decided it wanted the Windows giant to make custom, battle-ready AR headsets in a ten-year deal worth up to [2]$22 billion .
The project was [3]delayed and is reportedly scheduled to roll out some time this year. But the US Dept of Defense's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) cast some doubt on whether it was worth it at all.
[4]
"Procuring IVAS without attaining user acceptance could result in wasting up to $21.88 billion in taxpayer funds to field a system that soldiers may not want to use or use as intended," the Pentagon oversight body wrote in [5]an audit [PDF] report this month.
[6]
[7]
In other words, the Army hasn't yet fully determined if or how service members will find these HoloLens headsets valuable in the field. Although the heavily redacted report did not reveal soldiers' responses to the prototype testing, it said feedback from surveys showed "both positive and negative user acceptance."
[8]
Horror-lens .. Microsoft-supplied photo of a US soldier wearing its HoloLens-based headgear
The Army plans to purchase 121,500 IVAS units from Microsoft while admitting that "if soldiers do not love IVAS and do not find it greatly enhances accomplishing the mission, then soldiers will not use it," the report disclosed.
A Microsoft spokesperson told The Register in a statement: "Our focus continues to be on developing IVAS to be a transformational platform that will deliver enhanced soldier safety and effectiveness."
In a rebuttal to the OIG's audit, Douglas Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said the $21.88 billion was double what the military would likely at most spend, and was – in a way – a worst-case scenario figure.
[9]
"This is a contract ceiling that includes all possible hardware, components, and services over a ten-year period at the worst possible pricing structure. Less than half of this total is possible for the US Army. This total includes all possible sales to all sister services, foreign military sales, and all maximized service contracts," he wrote.
[10]See this, Google? Microsoft happy to take a half-billion in sweet, sweet US military money to 'increase lethality'
[11]Pentagon pal Microsoft to supply US Army with 120,000+ HoloLens units in contract somehow worth 'up to $22bn'
[12]Microsoft accidentally bricks Insider HoloLens 2 devices
[13]US Army develops natural-language voice-command AI for robots, tanks, etc. For search'n'rescue. For now
Bush insisted the Army has a policy to eventually test and evaluate whether or not personnel will use equipment such as Microsoft's AR techno-specs. He also disagreed that immediate user acceptance was necessary for determining whether the IVAS program would be worthwhile, and pointed out soldiers did not like night-vision goggles when they were introduced in the 1970s. But over time, they became more experienced with the technology ad developed tactics around it. Now, they are widely adopted by the Army. In other words: it's too early to tell for sure whether soldiers will use the AR technology or find it useful, according to Bush.
Feedback is also subjective, Bush noted. Acceptance was influenced by a soldier's level of fatigue, weather conditions, and familiarity with the tech.
However, "Army officials should have established user acceptance measurements at the beginning of the program to ensure that user needs were met," the OIG argued.
"While we agree there is inherent tension between user acceptance and opportunity, having an established measurement or goal enables officials to know that close combat forces accept, want to use, and can function effectively with IVAS."
[14]
In short: before you blow up billions on a project like this, do some more investigating. The US Army did not immediately respond to The Register 's request for further comment. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2018/11/29/microsoft_military_money/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/31/microsoft_us_army_hololens_contract/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/15/us_army_delays_microsoft_ivas_vr_project/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Ymduaq@P1iNyB8SV2R1OCQAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://media.defense.gov/2022/Apr/22/2002981953/-1/-1/1/DODIG-2022-085.PDF
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ymduaq@P1iNyB8SV2R1OCQAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Ymduaq@P1iNyB8SV2R1OCQAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/03/31/pr_handout_hololens_microsoft.jpg
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ymduaq@P1iNyB8SV2R1OCQAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2018/11/29/microsoft_military_money/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/31/microsoft_us_army_hololens_contract/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/10/hololens_brick/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/21/military_judi_ai/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Ymduaq@P1iNyB8SV2R1OCQAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
It's not wasted
Yet Another Anonymous coward
The job of the DoD is to spend a $1Tn defense budget in the USA.
It can buy 50,000 more Humvees and park them in the desert after already retiring the program
It can buy a couple more nuclear aircraft carriers in case the current 16 aren't enough to defeat the Venezuelan navy
It can pay soldiers more and invest in veteran care (Joking!)
It can ship pallets of $100 bills to Iraq and lose them
Or it can bankroll a disastrous failed product by the company that corporate America and the American govt relies on for Piss-Poor-Powerpoint-Presentations
At least this won't actually kill anyone
I Did Something Like This
Anonymous Coward
I was a lead for a project which needed a Hololens in a Defence (not Defense) environment. The use case is not field infantry, but "elsewhere"
Long story short, despite "promise" and relevant features, it was never used and sat in it's box all day (years really).
Why:
1). No one could show the person/people using it how to.
2). The deployment models do not suit a Defence environment - namely needing Azure AD and various other bits in the lovely cloud to operate
3) Offline (ie no public cloud/internet) deployment model was crippled and needed local shared admin access to work
etc etc
Other aspects of this project were fine, but the Hololens, as good and as promising as the hardware is, was not suited to this environment. This project did not have a $22bn budget, where I am sure some "let's just make it work" may occur after it blows out to $80bn but thats not the point I'm making.
Anonymous for obvious reasons.
Just what a grunt in a muddy trench, in the rain needs ...
... a fiddly bit of electronics kit, with all kinds of wires & sticky-out bits to catch on stuff.
Yup. I see a great need.