Anduril is taking over Microsoft's $22 billion IVAS project

• The former will assume responsibility for production, future hardware and software, and delivery. The latter's cloud and artificial intelligence offerings will serve as the digital backbone.
• The companies buddied up last year to bring the Lattice software suite aboard IVAS.

Context: Luckey hit it big with virtual reality and Oculus, which sold to Facebook for $2 billion.

• "I have long said ... that you were going to see a headset on the head of every soldier long before you see a headset on the head of every civilian," Luckey told reporters this week.
• "And the reason for that is simple," he added. "The stakes are much higher on the battlefield."

Flashback: Microsoft employees protested the company's work with the military back in 2019, saying they did not want to be "war profiteers."

Fun fact: Luckey has spoken at length — and passionately — about the anime series "Sword Art Online" and its hyperrealistic NerveGear devices.

• "I think that we are about a decade away from VR systems that, on a subconscious level, are indistinguishable from reality," he told Axios.

What's next: The Army is seeking industry feedback on IVAS Next. It published a request for information late last month.