{"id":223713,"date":"2025-09-13T13:59:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T13:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/223713\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T13:59:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T13:59:14","slug":"why-quantum-technology-matters-for-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/223713\/","title":{"rendered":"Why quantum technology matters for defence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Canadian government has put quantum technology on its priority list as it strives to accelerate defence<\/a> spending and build out its sovereign capabilities. <\/p>\n

Technologies based on quantum science such as computers and sensors are among a list of breakthrough technologies, including artificial intelligence<\/a> and drones, redefining the modern-day battlefield. Their future deployment is coming to the forefront of strategic planning as governments grapple with the fact that legacy systems may be rendered useless in the face of emerging digital threats. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Canada is two years into a seven-year plan to adopt quantum for defence applications. The United States is rapidly funding the creation of a reliable quantum computer by 2033, and China continues to pour billions of dollars of public funds into the sector. <\/p>\n

Canada had \u2013 and lost \u2013 its lead in AI. Can it avoid making the same mistake in the next emerging global technology race? <\/a><\/p>\n

Several countries are vying to win the global race to commercialize the technology, prioritizing strength in compute power over manpower. Whichever one is successful will transform warfare, harnessing quantum technologies as a defence mechanism and as an emerging threat. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a strong opportunity for Canada and for us to be contributing to different defence alliances. There are very few countries in the world that have the quantum capabilities that Canada has,\u201d said Lisa Lambert, chief executive officer at Quantum Industry Canada. <\/p>\n

In the context of defence, quantum technology can be broken down into three main applications: communications, sensors and computing. <\/p>\n

Sensing <\/p>\n

Radar systems are key to identify objects in the air, on land and at sea. However, existing systems used in military applications can be detected or dodged, making users vulnerable to attacks. <\/p>\n

Quantum technology can enhance these sensors and make them undetectable. At Qubic Inc. in Sherbrooke, Que., and Waterloo, Ont., chief executive officer J\u00e9r\u00f4me Bourassa is working on a quantum-enhanced radar to detect threats, such as drones, that can\u2019t be intercepted.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see them without them seeing you,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Opinion: The future is quantum. Canada must seize and industrialize it<\/a><\/p>\n

The physical infrastructure that makes up Qubic\u2019s radar won\u2019t look much different than existing radars \u2013 some sort of box with an antenna set up beside a computer. But it\u2019s the way it operates that will differ, Mr. Bourassa said, providing a more accurate and precise picture of what\u2019s within its scope. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou should be able to see further away, you should be able to identify smaller targets faster so that you have advanced knowledge and are more aware of your surroundings. That\u2019s the purpose of it all,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Ideally, the person using the radar won\u2019t have to change anything about how they interact with the system. It\u2019s only what they get out of it that will change, Mr. Bourassa said. <\/p>\n

Quantum-enhanced radar is one of four missions identified by the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces in their Quantum 2030<\/a> strategy, released in 2023. In practice, the department says in its strategy document that the technology \u201ccould enable detection of \u2018stealth\u2019 aircraft, be itself an undetectable mode of detection (stealth detection), as well as improve imaging resolution.\u201d <\/p>\n

Communicating <\/p>\n

The use of quantum technology to improve communications is a double-edged sword. <\/p>\n

Quantum computers, once they reach operating scale, are expected to be capable of cracking standard public key cryptography that has been used for decades to protect a broad range of digital systems. Fortunately, there are efforts under way in parallel to create quantum-safe communications that can\u2019t be hacked.<\/p>\n

The timeline for quantum computing being able to decrypt communications is still unknown. But in anticipation, companies such as Toronto-based Quantum Bridge Technologies Inc. are working on quantum-safe solutions.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Xanadu achieves worldwide first with error-resistant quantum chip<\/a><\/p>\n

CEO Mattia Montagna said the vulnerability of public key cryptography means any classified communications travelling on any network could be put at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a disaster, in the sense that if you have an adversary today that would be able to do that, most of the communication over the internet would become basically plain English, insecure,\u201d Mr. Montagna said.<\/p>\n

To protect against what Mr. Montagna calls \u201charvest now, decrypt later\u201d attacks, Ottawa has committed to adopting quantum-secure communications as another one of its four missions within its Quantum 2030 strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a question not of if, but when quantum computers will break current cryptographic protocols,\u201d the government wrote in its strategy document.<\/p>\n

Computing <\/p>\n

The power to do more, faster, is fuelling the momentum behind developing quantum for defence, said Christian Weedbrook, founder and CEO of Toronto-based quantum company Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the big examples is cybersecurity, and if you don\u2019t have the ability to have the most advanced decryption or encryption techniques, you\u2019re going to be in a lot of trouble,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ottawa has shown it is paying attention to this by dedicating another of its four Quantum 2030 missions to developing quantum algorithms to advance classical computing for defence.<\/p>\n

Promise of quantum computing requires new forms of protection<\/a><\/p>\n

The U.S. government is also acutely aware of the advantages at stake, funding a competition for companies, including several Canadian ones, to develop a commercially viable quantum computer by 2033.<\/p>\n

But until that exists, the risks and advantages countries will glean from quantum technologies for defence are still mostly anticipatory, said Dr. Stephanie Simmons, founder and chief quantum officer at Vancouver-based Photonic Inc.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Canada must continue to be proactive, stick to commitments it has made through its Quantum 2030 strategy and not let procurement processes slow its momentum, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world trusts Canada. And this technology needs trust. So, we have the opportunity to make use of our brand, make use of our talent and we just can\u2019t let our internal processes waste the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Canadian government has put quantum technology on its priority list as it strives to accelerate defence spending…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":223714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[2148,2138,671,104,2132,692,2147,2131,2143,2144,2140,2133,2130,745,79,407,746,2142,2137,2159,2134,2135,454,2139,1165,728,2149,108,2154,2155,2157,2152,2156,2150,2153,2136,85,2146,80,2145,2151,1458,158,1164,2141,67,132,68,1154,107,2158],"class_list":{"0":"post-223713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-computing","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-united-states","54":"tag-unitedstates","55":"tag-us","56":"tag-us-news","57":"tag-world-news","58":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}