It is intended to improve situational awareness by overlaying sensor imagery and other information on the soldier's field of view.

Soldiers and offices of the Department of Defense and Congress have repeatedly criticized the device and its development process for issues with technology and project management.

[5] Navigation applications can display maps of terrain and interiors of buildings, and show the positions of friendly and enemy forces.

[6] In March 2021, the U.S. Army announced that IVAS was being tested with mounted soldiers, such as on Bradley Fighting Vehicle and Stryker teams.

[11] Early models of IVAS were very similar to civilian HoloLens 2 headsets, which were not resistant to inclement weather and could not even function in rain.

[1] On 26 March 2021, Microsoft was awarded a "fixed price production agreement" by the United States Army to manufacture and supply IVAS headsets.

David Patterson, PEO Soldier Director of Public Affairs, said: "The Army intends to continue developing and fielding this revolutionary, first-of-its-kind technology in FY22.

[19] However, in November 2022, the US Army announced a "course correction" to the program, due to soldiers reporting physical ailments after using IVAS in the field.

A report by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General raised concerns that these problems may lead to soldiers not using the system even if it was issued to them.

[21] The US Army and Microsoft decided to renegotiate their contract and redesign the form factor while still planning to field 10,000 initial units.

[25] The petition stated that Microsoft had misled its engineers on how their products would be used; rather than being beneficial for civilians, they believed that the Hololens is now being used to "help people kill".

[26] Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, defended the contract, saying that the company is "not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy".

It stated that most soldiers testing the IVAS headset reported a wide range of physical impairments and numerous technical deficiencies that negatively impacted their performance.

"[24] A news release from the US Army stated that despite the previous delays, IVAS will still be fielded "several years ahead of standard acquisition programs".