Abstract
Quantum technology is an emergent and potentially disruptive discipline, with the ability to affect many human activities. Quantum technologies are dual-use technologies, and as such are of interest to the defence and security industry and military and governmental actors. This report reviews and maps the possible quantum technology military applications, serving as an entry point for international peace and security assessment, ethics research, military and governmental policy, strategy and decision making. Quantum technologies for military applications introduce new capabilities, improving effectiveness and increasing precision, thus leading to ‘quantum warfare’, wherein new military strategies, doctrines, policies and ethics should be established. This report provides a basic overview of quantum technologies under development, also estimating the expected time scale of delivery or the utilisation impact. Particular military applications of quantum technology are described for various warfare domains (e.g. land, air, space, electronic, cyber and underwater warfare and ISTAR—intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance), and related issues and challenges are articulated.
Highlights
Fourth generation modern warfare is characterised by decentralisation and the loss of states’ monopoly on war [1, 2], armies of advanced countries characteristically have access to state-of-the-art military technologies
Aside from the general quantum technology taxonomy presented above, we introduce a new division of quantum technologies according to their benefits and utilisation
For many quantum technology applications described in previous sections, it would be desirable to place quantum sensing technology such as quantum gravimeter, gravity gradiometer or magnetometer on satellites in Earth orbit, especially the low one (LEO)
Summary
Fourth generation modern warfare is characterised by decentralisation and the loss of states’ monopoly on war [1, 2], armies of advanced countries characteristically have access to state-of-the-art military technologies. This includes the appearance of quantum technologies on the horizon. The term quantum technology refers to the technology from the second quantum revolution. 5, the applications of individual quantum technologies in the military are presented for various domains (e.g. cyber, underwater, space and electronic warfare). For many of the presented quantum technology military applications, it is uncertain whether all challenges connected with the demands of high-end military technologies will be resolved, or even that the technology will be deployed
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