U.S. senators seek to add funding for military quantum computing research to aid encryption, AI, and EW

WASHINGTON – Two senators are seeking to direct a chunk of this year's defense budget to quantum computing. U.S. Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and John Thune, R-S.D., have sponsored legislation that would direct funding to the Pentagon for further development of quantum computers. UPI reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

21 April 2021 -- The request comes as the Biden administration recently unveiled a defense budget seeking $753 billion. Experts have said quantum computers, once properly developed, will be far more advanced than anything available today.

The defense industry has been eyeing the area for some time, as powerful quantum computers can break current encryption capabilities and make secure communications difficult.

In addition to advantages for the defense industry, market analysts have said the computing technology will shorten research and development times considerably for pharmaceutical development and greatly increase business analysis capabilities.

Related: The future of artificial intelligence and quantum computing

Related: DARPA asks Stealth Software to help advance trusted computing and cryptography using zero-knowledge proofs

Related: Researchers seek to develop small, low-cost, and energy-efficient cryptography for IoT trusted computing

John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics