Pentagon officials see quantum sensors as promising capabilities for alternative positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

However, there are challenges involved in deploying the technology that DARPA aims to tackle with a new program that it’s looking to kick off, dubbed Robust Quantum Sensors (RoQS).

The initiative “seeks to bring quantum sensors to DoD platforms. While quantum sensors have demonstrated exceptional laboratory performance in a number of modalities (magnetic and electrical field, acceleration, rotation, and gravity, etc.), their performance degrades once the sensor is placed on moving platforms due to electrical and magnetic fields, field gradients, and system vibrations. RoQS seeks to overcome these challenges through innovative physics approaches to quantum sensing. The forthcoming RoQS program aims to develop and demonstrate quantum sensors that inherently resist performance degradation from platform interferers and demonstrate them on a government-provided platform,” officials wrote in a special notice and future program announcement recently posted on Sam.gov.

DARPA, which reports to the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, hopes to transition RoQS-developed sensors onto U.S. military platforms with associated programs of record to help fulfill requirements. To that end, the agency intends to work with contractors and platform builders to identify systems for quantum sensor integration and also government platform owners to facilitate integration and testing at the end of the program, per the notice.

Pentagon officials and others have been working to mature quantum technology for real-world applications.

Quantum tech “translates the principles of quantum physics into technological applications,” a recently updated Congressional Research Service report explained, including concepts like superposition — or the ability of quantum systems to exist in two or more states simultaneously — and entanglement where “two or more quantum objects in a system can be intrinsically linked such that measurement of one dictates the possible measurement outcomes for another, regardless of how far apart the two objects are.”

Although DOD officials see potential uses for quantum-enabled capabilities in other areas like computing, encryption and communications, sensing is considered by many observers to be the most mature application for near-term use by the Pentagon.

That’s the one “that we know by far the most about,” John Burke, principal director for quantum science in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, said in June at a tech summit hosted by Defense One.

Such capabilities could provide an alternative to the Global Positioning System in case GPS is denied or degraded in future operating environments.

“You’ve probably heard about jamming and spoofing concerns, for example. So we’re busily working on other quantum technologies to input positioning and timing at the edge of the warfighter so that they don’t rely on GPS all the time,” Burke said. “So that’s sort of the earliest thing we’re working on. There’s a whole slew of technologies under that umbrella. We’re really pushing out on that. So even this year [in] 2024, we’ve got about $100 million coming out to work just on that area. So we’re really pushing hard on that.”

The Pentagon has been using its Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program to buy a new generation of atomic clocks that could be put into some “strategic assets,” he said, adding that “the first new wave of quantum technologies is really going out today.”

The CRS report noted that successful development and deployment of quantum sensors could boost detection of things like adversary submarines, underground structures, nuclear materials and electromagnetic emissions — and thereby help the U.S. military find concealed objects of interest and enemy forces.

For ISR there’s “an umbrella of remote sensing capabilities and a lot of different kinds of technologies in there. Things like magnetometers to find magnetic objects. You can imagine a lot of things that the military might care about … may have iron in them or steel, things that are magnetic. So we’re tracking trying to figure how to use those in all kinds of different ways,” Burke said.

Currently, quantum technologies are “a little bit expensive,” he noted.

“But that’s okay for certain strategic missions in the military. So we’re starting from those kinds of missions that go with anything — submarines, strategic bombers, long-range sort of missiles … these kinds of assets, to start inserting new technologies,” he said. “We have these things called magnetometers you can put in systems for like this thing called magnetic navigation. It’s extremely robust. We’re really excited about that. There’s navigation technologies. Once we get those established, we can start building up the manufacturing base, first in the Defense Department. That’s the path that we’ve taken. But I think in the long run, you’re gonna see these kinds of technologies proliferate into civilian” sectors.

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According to a commercial solutions opening posted to DIU’s website Thursday, the organization is seeking prototypes that can be demonstrated for military applications under its Transition of Quantum Sensors (TQS) program. The multiyear, multiphase effort aims to mature quantum sensing technologies and demonstrate them for “end-to-end DOD operational utility.”

The TQS program is part of the unit’s new “Emerging Technology” portfolio, also announced by DIU Thursday. Air Force Lt. Col. Nicholas Estep has been tapped to lead the portfolio, which will focus on commercial and non-traditional “deep-tech” capabilities that do not have established or defined transition pathways to the Defense Department’s business ecosystem, according to a press release.

DIU’s other portfolios include artificial intelligence, autonomy, cyber and telecom, energy, human systems and space.

Quantum sensors are designed to detect changes in movement and electric and magnetic fields at the atomic level, offering “the promise of significant improvements in precision, accuracy, and sensitivity compared to classical sensors,” the TQS solicitation noted. 

The technology has reached the point of maturity where the Pentagon is ready to conduct operational demonstrations for military applications, according to the listing. The TQS program will have three lines of effort: inertial sensing, magnetometers and technology insertions for spiral enhancements to quantum sensing.

The initiative will mainly explore how both inertial and magnetic sensor systems can provide enhancements and security to the Pentagon’s PNT-dependent missions, such as dynamic space operations.

When compared to conventional systems, inertial sensors have demonstrated a reduced drift rate — or the gradual, subtle changes in the sensor that can cause discrepancies between the actual data being measured and what is output by a system.

“The result of reduced drift from quantum inertial systems is extended navigation solution holdover times, increasing mission effectiveness during absence of precision position updates from systems like GPS,” the solicitation noted.

On the other hand, magnetic navigation (MagNav) systems are highly immune to interference from either adversary attacks or environment conditions. As a result, these sensors could operate where others could not, “such as over water, when weather may obstruct celestial and terrain visibility, or during long missions when drift dominates the inertial nav solution,” according to the post.

DIU is also interested in how magnetometers can enhance geomagnetic surveying and magnetic anomaly detection missions for submarines and explosive hazardous materials. The organization is looking for commercial solutions that can be integrated onto drones and maintain the necessary sensitivity to accurately track anomalous magnetic signatures in the Earth.

Proposals are due by May 29. Industry can submit their solutions for either one or both use cases, but DIU intends to prioritize technologies with modular, iterative designs that can address both mission areas.

“The intent is to have mid-course functional demonstrations of end-to-end solutions, followed by operational demonstrations within the next five years for relevant military applications and mission sets to conclude the prototyping program,” the post noted. “The opportunity for design spirals, to include technical enhancement insertions, is expected during the program.”

Another early focus for DIU’s new emerging tech portfolio will be on existing and upcoming hypersonics efforts. It will take over the organization’s High-cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities (HyCAT) program, which aims to prototype hypersonic testing systems for the Defense Department. 

In the future, the portfolio will launch prototyping efforts for “advanced materials and propulsion, nanotechnology, photonics, microelectronics, additive manufacturing and quantum information science,” according to a release.

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