The Israeli army's C2 Systems Department has bought two of the Microsoft HoloLens augmented reality headsets. The plan is to put them in active duty within months to help with battlefield strategy and training.

Microsoft HoloLens

Bloomberg that Major Rotem Bashi, the commander of programing for the army's C2 Systems Department, already has some interesting ways the HoloLens could be used at war:

At the army base outside Tel Aviv, a handful of developers in Bashi's team created a software program in less than a month that allows commanders to manipulate military terrain models and intelligence data to monitor troop positioning from enemy vantage points. Battlefield maps are superimposed on top of the real terrain, streamed in via satellite, to create a blend that can be interacted with via sight, voice and hand gestures.

The HoloLens could also help medics to operate on soldiers directly on the battlefield by having instructions placed in their field of vision by trained surgeons. The same principle could be used to help soldiers repair equipment.

Bashi's team is continuing to develop new ways to use the HoloLens platform. Ideas range from streamlining security checks at roadblocks by installing face recognition software, to controlling robots and even drones through gesture.

Officially, Microsoft will not comment on how the HoloLens could be used by military departments.