New Heads-Up Display to Revolutionize Military Training

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A new heads-up technology will revolutionize the way soldiers prepare for future wars. The US Army’s new battlefield heads-up display, the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), “is going to transform the way we train soldiers and the way soldiers operate in combat,” the Army’s vice chief of staff Gen. James C. McConville told the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on readiness.

The IVAS system is first and foremost a combat system that will increase soldier situational awareness during missions, It is a single platform that soldiers and Marines use to fight, rehearse, and train. Similar technology has been used by the Navy and Air Force, which have used it to train fighter pilots.

The system features advanced eyewear that places simulated images in a soldier’s view of real-world environments. The eyewear is connected to a small computer on the soldier’s body.

Using 3-D mapping data and training management tools, users can build a virtual combat environment, allowing soldiers to train in realistic combat scenarios. soldiers can use their IVAS and other combat equipment to take part in many repetitions of simulated missions, McConville said, providing a greater range of training options than current testing and training ranges, according to army.mil.

The system will allow the soldiers to go into augmented reality and train on a mission they’re about ready to accomplish.

Similar to the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular, or ENVG-B, the IVAS system will use thermal imaging without the green tint seen in the Army’s current night vision goggles.

Readiness remains a top priority in the Army’s fiscal 2020 budget.

The Army plans to field the system by the end of fiscal year 2021.