Article Summary: Quantum computing is redefining submarine warfare. The technology promises unparalleled precision in submarine navigation, allowing vessels to remain submerged for entire missions without surfacing for GPS updates. This could make American submarines nearly undetectable to adversaries like China and Russia.
Key Point #1 – However, quantum sensors may also be used to track submarines by detecting subtle gravitational and magnetic anomalies. China’s development of superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) raises concerns about stealth becoming obsolete.
Key Point #2 – As quantum computing advances, the race is on to determine whether it will favor submarine hunters or those evading detection. The future of naval warfare is at stake.
Quantum Computing: 2 Words That Mean No More Stealth Submarines?
Quantum mechanics is the science and study of light and matter at hard-to-conceive atomic and subatomic levels. It examines the interplay of the components of atoms and explains the behavior of atoms and molecules.
Esoteric though the science is, quantum computing has important implications for military science — and in particular for submarine warfare — both on the office as well as on the defense.
Location, Location, Location
Submarine navigation has been a persistent challenge. While Sailors carefully map speed and direction with the aid of gyroscopes, small imprecisions accumulate over time.
The longer a submarine navigates underwater, the less accurate its position estimates become.
In order to get a very accurate positional reading, a submarine must surface to take directional measurements or get a GPS location signal. However, surfacing is a risk to the submarines. And in a wartime scenario where GPS is inconsistent, compromised, or otherwise unavailable thanks to, for example, anti satellite warfare, accurate positioning can be problematic.
One solution? Quantum computing.
Quantum Mechanics
“Fundamentally, quantum sensors are measurement tools. While the physics principles and materials for building quantum sensors are the same as conventional sensors, the former are ultra-sensitive,” a recent report explains.
“For instance, they are capable of sensing the slightest of environmental disturbances in electric and magnetic fields and the presence of radiation. The major difference between quantum sensors and conventional sensors, however, is that quantum sensors possess remarkable precision capabilities that allow them to detect the smallest unit of energy or measurement, called quanta.”
Using quantum technology to navigate raises the prospect of submarines remaining submerged for an incredibly long stretch of time while also having highly accurate estimates of their location on the globe.
Once integrated onto submarines, entire patrols can be done without ever needing to surface and risk a positional giveaway.
For countries eager to track American submarines, say Russia and China, a submarine’s position would be apparent only when it arrived or left port, masked for the entirety of a mission underwater. This would force adversaries to detect submarines using acoustic deception methods, which is a technological area in which the United States Navy has supremacy underwater.
However, the technology can be used to detect submarines too.
The China Connection
In 2017, the Chinese Academy of Sciences made a startling announcement. It developed a Superconducting Quantum Interference Device, or SQUID, which used quantum sensors to register minute magnetic changes in the environment.
It could detect small changes in brain wave activity, as well as magnetic anomalies in outer space. It could also be used to find submarines. The application of quantum technology for submarine detection is remarkable.
Highly sensitive quantum gravimeters could be used to monitor and detect very slight changes in gravity, with the potential to rival where exactly a submarine is by detecting the interplay of its gravitational field with that of the earth’s gravitational field.
Similarly, quantum magnetometers could be used to find a metallic submarine hull. Rather than relying on sonar to detect submarines, quantum computing in packages like SQUID could silently detect submarines.
FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – The Ohio-class guided missile submarine USS Georgia (SSGN 729) transits the Saint Marys River July 15. Georgia returned to Kings Bay after spending more than a year forward deployed. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class(SW) James Kimber)
Though the technology is still in its infancy, quantum computing, like artificial intelligence, has the potential to radically redefine not only how we live our lives but how nations prosecute wars.
For underwater mariners, the ability to stay underwater for the duration of a mission would be a boon — but it would benefit submarine hunters too.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
