China's State Media Shows Military Using Microsoft's HoloLens 2 Headsets

A member of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was seen this week using Microsoft's HoloLens 2 smart glasses while being trained in aircraft maintenance in a demonstration of China's adoption of technology developed in the United States.

CCTV-7, the military channel of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, aired a short video on Tuesday that showed the PLA Air Force engineer-in-training using Microsoft's hardware to simulate repairs on a warplane.

The technology of the mixed-reality headset gives the user an "in-depth understanding of the equipment without needing to touch it," the report said of the training conducted by the PLA's Eastern Theater Command, headquartered in Nanjing.

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Microsoft's HoloLens 2 system was released in 2019 and retails starting at $3,500. The product is available commercially inside China.

In the CCTV-7 video, the PLA Air Force trainee was seen calling up the headset's operating system by raising his palm to his face. He highlighted a panel on the nearby fighter jet engine and called up interactive tools, including a drill and a wrench.

The tools were digitally overlayed on the physical surface in front of him as he stood a short distance away, simulating aircraft maintenance protocol with hand gestures, the broadcast showed.

The technology, as described in Chinese state media, was adopted to accelerate combat effectiveness and reflects China's ongoing efforts to modernize its military under President Xi Jinping.

The use of emerging technologies in the armed forces suggests China's readiness to utilize any relevant advances when practica, even those developed by the U.S., its long-term strategic competitor.

Last year, Washington imposed extensive export controls on advanced microchips that power artificial intelligence and other future technologies, in a move that directly targeted China's military modernization. The restrictions were further tightened in 2023, with additional measures expected in areas like AI and biotechnology.

At the Reagan National Defense Forum earlier this month, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the U.S. was preparing more curbs on China to win the technology war.

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The PLA has used mixed or virtual reality for training for several years, according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. China's military has also deployed an augmented-reality system that enables soldiers to control unmanned aircraft and vehicles, the newspaper reported on Thursday.

The PLA's use of Microsoft hardware sparked a flurry of comments on Chinese social media this week, with a related hashtag later trending with half a million views on Weibo, the country's X-like microblogging platform.

Microsoft also has contracts with the Pentagon for its mixed-reality. In 2021, the company agreed to supply the U.S. Army with more than 120,000 smart glasses in a deal that could reach $21.88 billion over 10 years, following an initial supply of prototypes in 2018 as part of a $480 million contract.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, senior U.S. lawmakers are calling for a further tightening exports to prevent the Chinese military from accessing U.S. technologies, particularly those with so-called dual uses in the commercial and defense sectors.

Reps. Mike Gallagher and Michael McCaul, Republican House committee leaders representing Wisconsin and Texas, respectively, informed Raimondo this month that further resources for her department would be conditioned upon institutional reforms that effectively limited the flow of U.S. tech to America's adversaries.

But in China, major tech players like Xiaomi, Lenovo and Oppo are already developing their own augmented reality devices, signaling a new era of civilian and military applications for cutting-edge technology.