Joint Base Lewis-McChord –
The Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) is a single platform featuring a day/night, all-weather fighting goggle and a mixed reality headset that integrates next-generation situational awareness tools and high-resolution simulations to provide Soldiers with unprecedented capabilities in combat environments.
IVAS offers a wider field-of-view display than current equipment and features thermal and low-light sensors, as well as real-time 3D mapping and navigation capabilities that enable movement through dense areas or open terrain.
IVAS enables platform integration on the battlefield, vastly improving situational awareness for Soldiers. For example, Soldiers riding inside a Bradley or Stryker vehicle normally may not have visibility of the area of operations until they dismount. However, with IVAS Soldiers can access vehicle cameras en route to their mission. Instead of looking at a wall, they see what drivers and gunners see before they exit into the battlespace, providing them greater situational awareness, intelligence and knowledge of the surrounding terrain.
PEO Soldier and PEO Ground Combat Systems collaborate to evaluate and validate the integration of IVAS’ capabilities with armored Bradley and Stryker vehicles. Soldiers participating in one of these exercises at Joint Base Louis-McChord praised the capabilities offered by IVAS.
“When all doors and hatches in the Stryker are closed, I can see 360 degrees around my vehicle to check for IEDs, check where my other vehicles are and check their movement, and all of that has been a huge asset these last two weeks,” said Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Williams, third platoon leader for Blackhorse Company of 2-3 Infantry Regiment, 1-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team. “The situational awareness that I'm able to gain at a leader level from being able to see the icons for where all my [Soldiers] are means I can do route planning, I can do mission planning, I can publish graphical overlays, I can navigate with literally a turn-by-turn navigation feature, and I can send messages back and forth to the members of the platoon.”