Microsoft said the headsets would be based on its HoloLens technology, which was originally developed for video games.<\/b>
\nMicrosoft has won a government contract to build augmented reality headsets for the U.S. military, the company and the Army separately announced Wednesday, securing a deal expected to bring in roughly $22 billion for the software giant over the next decade. The contract could be worth up to $21.9 billion over ten years, according to Microsoft. The deal would build on a $480 million contract the Army struck with Microsoft in 2018, securing thousands of prototypes for the headset technology. The latest contract would move the project into a production phase, supplying more than 120,000 units of the technology to soldiers in the Close Combat Force. In 2019, Microsoft employees expressed alarm that the company had agreed to \u201cprovide weapons technology\u201d to the U.S. and demanded the company cancel its $480 million contract with the Army. \u201cWe did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used,\u201d dozens of employees wrote in a letter to the company.<\/p>\n