Meta & Anduril Partner Up to Tango with U.S. Military’s $22B VR War Toys…

Palmer Luckey just crawled out of Zuck’s burn book and straight into the Pentagon’s thirst traps. In fact, I’d say this is the least predictable crossover since KFC made chicken-scented sunscreen (that really happened). But hey, modern problems require modern solutions, which is why Meta and Anduril Industries are now doing good cop, bad cop for the U.S. army, building VR headsets to help soldiers spot drones and blow sh*t up with AI-powered precision. Dick Cheney be like, “I was born too early”. 

(Source: Yarn) 

In short, Meta has decided to get into the business of battlefield wearables. The system, called EagleEye, is equipped with rugged helmets and glasses combined with a boatload of AI sensors so soldiers can see farther, hear better, and remote-control killing machines on demand. If you thought Zuck’s algo’s were invasive, wait until you see what it does with thermal imaging and live targets. 

As for the money involved, it’s kind of up for grabs… with a $100 million Army contract, just for the prototypes. Now obviously, that ain’t much to Zuck, but for Meta, it’s the first whiff of  military-grade cash that blocks the pain of Reality Labs’ scorched earth cash burn. Especially considering this is the revolving door to the bigger play… a.k.a. the Army’s $22 billion wearables plan. If you recall, Microsoft dropped the ball so hard their VR headset made actual soldiers puke. Pentagon brass handed Anduril the keys in February, then lucked into Meta’s AI. Oh, how the turntables turn.

(Source: Wall Street Journal) 

Anduril, naturally, is pumping its fist on this deal. They're betting that if the Army says yes, every other branch will want a piece. Plus, these helmets are mostly self-funded, which tells you how thirsty both companies are for DoD validation. But, but, but… the backstory here is even more interesting than the cash involved. Why? Well, for anyone who blacked out after 2016, Palmer Luckey made his first billion selling Oculus to Facebook, then got exiled by Zuck in 2017 for dropping a political donation that triggered so much internal drama, half of Menlo Park made the crying “lib” girl their entire personality. In turn, Luckey built Anduril as a middle finger to Big Tech groupthink… and now, he’s back, raiding his own old VR patents and getting paid to militarize them. 

“I finally got all my toys back,” Luckey said, which is just the right amount of petty for someone still nursing a seven-year grudge. So yeah, it’s a full circle moment here. And it benefits both parties involved. For instance, if this project lands, Meta’s got a direct revenue pipe into the juiciest government cash pile outside of Medicare fraud. Meanwhile, Anduril’s busy speed-dating the rest of Silicon Valley (think: OpenAI, Oracle, Palantir), because Luckey’s not content until every defense budget line item has his fingerprints (and right-wing meme stash) on it. Bigly. 

(Source: Yahoo Finance) 

Moral of the story? If you ever needed proof that the only thing standing between bitter rivals and a government payday is a few zeroes on a contract, here it is. This is tech’s latest pivot… building the future of war, one backroom handshake at a time. Now of course, we’ll see how the final details shakes out… but this is definitely a big win for Meta. Which means, place your bets accordingly and keep your eyes open for more updates. Until next time, friends…

Stocks.News holds positions in Meta and Microsoft as mentioned in the article.