The future of his army goes through augmented reality

The Chinese military state has been suffering for years An important process of technological modernization. The country led by Xi Jinping increased by 7.2% its defense budget by 2025, and is currently considered as The third largest military power in the world.

For about a decade, China proves augmented and virtual reality technologies for military logistics. One of its most recent strategies goes through the Mars system (Military augmented reality system), one that seems taken from a science fiction film, or the last installment of ‘Call of Duty’.

Inside a video game. Soldiers of the popular liberation army have augmented reality devices at their disposal. Teams that allow the units to use this technology to see through the walls, obtain third -party information (drones, colleagues, position of other combat elements, etc.) and expedite combat operations.

• They have thermal, night vision and cameras to track the environment
• They are able to delineate humanoid objectives for their best detection
• They can actually show 3D maps of the territory
• They label and establish markers shared with other team members
• They project a digital cross in the eye to point more precision

Reading the device functions list, it seems closer to what we would find in ‘Call of Duty’ than what an average user would understand as military technology. Mars technology, from the beginning, is focused for real combat use. Through Chinese networks, such as Bilibili, The design and operation of some recent versions of the device has been seen.

In test phase. China has been testing this type of devices for two years, and it is clear that the future of military operations goes through AI. Despite this, it is important to highlight that these types of technologies have not been deployed in real combat, and that both physical impact and cognitive load that entails using them is being studied in depth.

They are not just for war. Although the most advanced own devices have combat guidance, China has been using augmented reality for other military purposes for years. In 2023, the Chinese Air Forces made the use of Hololens 2 for Areonautio maintenance tasks.

AR devices have also been used for training Paracharidism units and out -of -combat tactical training tasksthrough completely virtual or live environments by augmented reality.

An answer to the US. The United States, first military world power, has a calendar similar to that of China. He closed his first contract with Microsoft For system development Ivas (Integrated Visual Augmentation System) In 2018, one that has been in evidence since then.

It is the system with which China tries to rival, and one that is also trying to finalize its test phases.

The biggest challenge? American soldiers complained about the first final versions (2022) for dizziness, nausea and neck injuries after the continued use of these heavy devices. In 2024, the American army deployed about 3,000 test devices, in this case improved to avoid these problems. Intensive tests are being carried out in this first half of 2025, and conclusive results are expected before the end of the year.

It is not the only plan. At the end of 2024, Reuters revealed that China had been using old Versions of the Meta Models for Military Purposes. Specifically, it was pointed out that Chinese investigation institutions linked to the popular liberation army used the publicly available goal model to create a chatbot with military applications called Chatbit.

An unauthorized military assistant according to goal, since its technology can only be used with military applications in the United States and some agencies from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

China as a military superpower. China has been consolidating as a military and nuclear power for years, having deeply modernizing its nuclear arsenal in recent years. He US Department of Defense He estimates that China currently has an arsenal made up of More than 600 nuclear eyeletsand that plans to increase this figure until reaching 1,000 eyelets in 2030.

Something that, added to the construction of the largest military center in the world 30 kilometers from the southwest of Beijing, it makes clear the strategic response to the arms development of the United States.

Image | United States Army

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