Tomorrow’s soldiers will have their reality augmented

SUCCESS OR FAILURE in war often hinges on how much soldiers know about the enemy and the areas in which it operates. Tactical intelligence of all sorts helps. Locations of culverts where bombs may lie hidden. Spots from which snipers have scored kills. Water sources likely to have been polluted by agricultural runoff after heavy rain. Identities of locals suspected of aiding insurgents. Armed forces compile such intelligence and store it on computers. But making full use of it in the heat of battle has never been easy. This is now poised to change, thanks to display technology known as augmented reality (AR).