The US army is betting on augmented reality goggles to give its soldiers the edge on the battlefield.

New documents reveal that it has held meetings with London gaming start-up Improbable, as well as US giants Magic Leap and Microsoft, about a contract to develop the technology for the frontline.

Augmented reality headsets overlay digital images on the physical world. In combat situations, they could help quickly communicate crucial information to a soldier by, for instance, providing them with digital maps or tactical information about the enemy.

The US army has been sounding out technology companies for contracts that would provide 120,000 high-tech headsets, according to tender documents.

Improbable, a $2bn start-up that works on an operating system to create virtual worlds, is a contender, as is Magic Leap, which makes the mixed reality Magic Leap One headset, and Microsoft, which produces the Hololens, also attended briefings about the deals.

Magic Leap's $2,295 device, the Magic Leap One, projects images using light field technology onto the user's eyes. These virtual images then appear as if they were on the real world. Microsoft's $5,000 Hololens uses similar mixed reality technology.

The army documents state that the future high-tech goggles are part of a plan to build "head-mounted and man-portable applications to enable next-generation soldier lethality capabilities."