The US Air Force is joining in on the upcoming Metaverse, at least according to a very interesting new filing. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the Air Force has trademarked an upcoming “SpaceVerse” project that seems to be integral to training future cadets.
We want you! In the SpaceVerse
According to the official filing, SpaceVerse will be used as “a secure digital metaverse that converges terrestrial and space physical and digital realities and provides synthetic and simulated extended-reality (XR) training, testing, and operations environments.”
Considering how many brands are investing in the metaverse - Lego, Epic Games, and Nike, to name a few - seeing the US Air Force use it to recruit potential cadets makes sense. It’s sad that the government is using something like the metaverse as a tool for war but that's far from surprising.
While information on the project is very sparse — likely due to its nature as a military program — we can gleam some details from the patent. For example, the patent mentions that the virtual world will be used for "testing". This is very similar to manufacturers such as Boeing using the metaverse to test in-development airplanes. However, the military will be doing this with weapons.
Additionally, cadets will be able to perform training activities inside the metaverse. Similar to simulations in video games, which have been used for training soldiers, VR or AR scenarios can be created to help train cadets. This could end up being a very effective training solution, giving soldiers an immersive taste of battle.
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When does SpaceVerse training start?
Since the metaverse has not gotten off the ground yet, we won’t see the SpaceVerse in action for a while. Incorporating military training into something very VR-like takes up a lot of time and money, so we’re in for a long wait. However, the endgame will result in the US Air Force saving money as real military equipment and bases won’t be used.
It seems that the storyline of Metal Gear Solid 2 is coming true, with future soldiers possibly being trained through VR. Hopefully, it doesn’t end like Metal Gear because no one wants more nuclear war.