Microsoft HoloLens headset spotted in use by Chinese military despite export ban

Earlier this week, the military broadcast channel CCTV-7 in China ran a segment on aircraft maintenance in which soldiers were spotted wearing HoloLens 2 headsets.

Newsweek, who initially reported the appearance of Microsoft’s flagship augmented reality headset being used by a member of the People’s Liberation Army describes the televised segment as, “the PLA Air Force engineer-in-training using Microsoft’s hardware to simulate repairs on a warplane.”

The original video ran Tuesday, and while short, does explain that the PLA’s use of Microsoft’s technology enables an “in-depth understanding of the equipment without needing to touch it.”

During the CCTV-7’s coverage of the demo, it’s made clear that China is utilizing Microsoft’s headset to embrace technology that can enrich its military’s effectiveness in the years to come.

Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post publication also buttresses CCTV-7’s claims of China’s desire to modernize its military by explaining that it has for years made use of mixed reality technologies to pilot unmanned aircrafts and other vehicles.

The story has gained a bit of traction here in the US following explosive half a million viewership on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter’s microblogging site Weibo.

While it’s unclear for the moment whether this is a sanctioned Microsoft collaboration, the demo shared by the PLA covers similar concepts previously highlighted by the company highlighting gesture-based computing and the benefits of augmented reality immersion when it comes to remote training.

The trainee also demos repair of a fighter jet engine leveraging custom AR versions of drills and wrenches.

Microsoft’s hard pivot into militarizing the HoloLens over the past couple of years could have one believe that the company is behind the proliferation of its headset into China. However, a recent US ban on exporting chips to the country coupled with an on-going multibillion dollar collaboration with the US Army seemingly would complicate any Microsoft-Chinese military partnerships.

As it stands, Microsoft is still working to complete its field-ready transition of its HoloLens 2 headset in time for its next testing milestone with the US Army next year and has made no announcements of any additional military connections outside of that partnership.