Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is also working on quantum sciences.
Indian armed forces are doing dedicated investment in quantum technologies for some time now. During December 2021, Indian Army set up a Quantum Computing Laboratory at Mhow, Madhya Pradesh. This laboratory has been established with the help of the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). The purpose of this organisation is to carry out extensive research and development in the quantum field from a military perspective. This centre is facilitating research and training in the areas like Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), quantum computing and quantum communication. And, their main focus is towards developing expertise in Quantum Cryptography, which is a mechanism to develop secure communications.
During April 5-6, 2022, a two-day Indo-Israel Bilateral workshop on Quantum Technologies (I2QT-2022) was held at New Delhi. This workshop was inaugurated by Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Chairman, Defence Research and Development (DRDO) and was jointly conducted by DRDO and IIT Delhi. The Israeli side was represented by their delegations consisting of academic experts, R&D professionals and Industry partners.
The DRDO workshop was one of the outcomes of the bilateral agreement (2021) signed amongst DRDO and Israel’s Directorate of Defence Research & Development (DDR&D). Here the focus is towards promoting innovation and accelerating R&D in start-ups and Micro, small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of both countries. It has been reported that the technologies developed under this collaboration will be available to both countries for their domestic applications. It is expected that this workshop would go a long way towards evolving a joint quantum technology roadmap. Such a roadmap would help identifying the exact military grade quantum technology specific domains for future collaborations.
From India’s standpoint, it is very encouraging that DRDO has started investing in this technology at an early stage. This is because even today quantum sciences and many of their applications are still under process of evolution. Developments in the fields like quantum cryptography and quantum computing are found happening much faster than other fields. It is important for Indian agencies not to keep wasting time on reinventing the wheel in these arenas. Hence, collaborations with friendly states like Israel are going to be very useful.
From a defence utility perspective, quantum technologies show great promise. These technologies are expected to offer an alternative for space-based navigational systems like the GPS. Various other military related fields like submarine detection, radars and sensors are showing a lot of potential for applicability of quantum technologies.
Globally, the states like the US, China, Russia and Australia are found investing in quantum technologies. Presently, in their investments, military emphasis is found slowly getting more prominent. China (with assistance from Austria) has launched a quantum satellite. This satellite called Micius (launched during 2016) has successfully established an ultra-secure link between two ground stations separated by more than 1,000 km. China has surged ahead in the pursuit for unbreachable quantum communication and in future their defence forces are expected to gain largely from such innovations. Europe is working towards developing the Quantum Internet and so is the US and China. At present, it is difficult to conceptualise the exact military utility of such a system, but some defence agencies are working towards developing this new form of Internet with a view that such a system would be unhackable and would definitely emerge as a future military asset.
Israel started concentrating on the quantum domain around 2018. Their agencies like TELEM (National Centre for Research and Development) and MAFAT (Ministry of Defence) are mainly involved in undertaking research in various subfields of quantum sciences. Initially, during 2018, their overall investments were about USD27 million, but within two years, they have put in place a five year-plan of about USD362 million. During Feb 2022, Israel’s innovation and weapons research and development authorities have indicated the likely possibility of going for the first tender for building an Israeli quantum computer, as part of a massive project intended to give Israel “strategic capabilities”. It would be a USD61.9 million project run by the Israel Innovation Authority and the weapons and technological infrastructure research body with help of industry.
India in its budget 2020, has announced a National Mission on Quantum Technologies & Applications (NM-QTA) with a total budget outlay of Rs 8000 crore for a period of five years. This budget is being utilised by the Department of Science & Technology (DST). The emphasis for investments includes quantum communication, quantum simulation, quantum computation and quantum sensing & metrology (science of measurement). Quantum technologies are dual-use technologies and hence at national level, DRDO needs to connect with DST. Some basic research and innovation could be done jointly by involving academic institutes like IITs.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is also working on quantum sciences. DRDO can branch-off from such institutions, when they would be required to conduct exclusively defence related research, otherwise there is a need to utilise and collaborate with various national institutions (even the private sector) for conducting basic research in this field.
For defence technology collaboration, at bilateral level, India has an excellent relationship with Israel. During the recent bilateral workshop (I2QT-2022) there has been a wide-ranging deliberation on aspects like photonics-based quantum computing and communication, sensing, encryption, quantum magnetometry and atomic clocks. States like China are known to invest big in the field of quantum sciences and it is expected that in near future, PLA would derive various benefits from the ongoing research in this field. In this era of Industry 4.0, it is important for India’s defence establishment to use various available resources to ensure that Indian armed forces benefit from the ongoing quantum revolution.
https://www.financialexpress.com/defence/indo-israel-quantum-technology-collaboration-with-military-focus/2485892/
