Alright, here we go. Get ready for a wild ride through the world of Palmer Luckey and his latest adventures. Honestly, this feels like something straight out of a movie script. We’ve got Anduril, Luckey’s brainchild, teaming up with Meta to craft just about the slickest AR and VR gadgets for the U.S. military. Yeah, you heard it right.
Remember Oculus? That whole VR vibe kicked off by none other than Luckey back in 2012. Facebook, the social media giant turned Meta (because why not?), noticed and dropped a cool $2 billion on it. Luckey was the king of VR for a while under Meta’s big umbrella, but politics (oh, the drama) got him booted out. So, what does a tech genius do? Start another startup, of course.
Enter Anduril, where Luckey mixes tech with defense like it’s a weekend hobby. They’ve been cooking up some extended reality (XR) stuff—drones, sensors, and more. Back in February, Anduril took the reins from Microsoft on the IVAS thing (it’s about making futuristic soldier helmets), because who doesn’t want to be Iron Man?
Now, the plot thickens with Anduril and Meta joining forces to say, “Hey, let’s make soldiers tech-wizards on the field.” The announcement sounded all fancy about saving money with high-end components—yeah, sure. But the real kicker? Luckey and Meta’s bigwigs seem to be BFFs again. Talk about water under the bridge.
I mean, Zuck and Boz (that’s Mark Zuckerberg and Andrew “Boz” Bosworth for those keeping score) had a falling out with Luckey before, but hey, sometimes tech bros gotta tech bro. They’re all smiles and quotes now, like a happy Metal reunion tour.
So, about this IVAS project—it’s $20 billion (yikes) and looks like a Halo helmet dream come true. Anduril, with Meta’s magic, is leading the charge. Let’s see if it flies or goes the way of 3D TVs. Anyway—hold on, did I mention—wait, where was I? Ah, whatever. It’s exciting and chaotic, just like tech should be.
