Samsung, Oculus Rift target defense market.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

* Samsung, working alongside virtual reality goggle maker Oculus Rift, is looking to make headway in the military training market.

Samsung's Gear VR, a virtual reality headset powered by a Galaxy Notebook smartphone and an Oculus Rift goggle can help the Pentagon with a number of training exercises, said Jamie Wu, senior manager of Defense Department sales for Samsung.

"The thought process is you can take a standard smartphone, load an application on there, and put it in the goggles and you're off and running," he said. "The phone just snaps in and... [uses] the display and processor to provide the content."

While the system has been on the market for more than a year, much of its appeal has been for its entertainment value. However, it is especially useful as a tool for the military, Wu said.

One application is geared toward F-15E Strike Eagle maintainers. For "a mechanic, it's hard often times to get them in the warehouse with the plane to... take it apart," he said.

The system would give a mechanic a 360-degree virtual view of the aircraft, he noted.

While the military has for years used virtual reality for training, Gear VR differs because it is mobile-based, Wu said. A soldier using a Samsung device can check his emails or make phone calls one...