The Ministry of Defence has acquired the UK Government’s first ever quantum computer, which it will use to to explore ways in which quantum technology can be used to bolster the UK’s defence.

UK company Orca Computing has provided the device, one of its PT-1 quantum computers. This uses single photons of light to perform its calculations.

According to the company, this device is the first quantum computer to operate at room temperature. Other devices need to work at sub-zero temperatures to function correctly.

Stephen Till from the MoD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DTSL) called the move a “milestone moment”.

“We expect the Orca system to provide significantly improved latency – the speed at which we can read and write to the quantum computer,” he added.

According to comments made to the Times, Till added that the MoD will focus on whether combining Orca’s device with traditional computers could create more powerful AIs.

Furthermore, because Orca’s technology can work at room temperature, he speculated that the device could even be used under battlefield conditions.

Orca Computing Chief Executive Richard Murray said: “Our partnership with MoD gives us the type of hands-on close interaction, working with real hardware which will help us to jointly discover new applications of this revolutionary new technology.”

Estimates have suggested that quantum computing could provide up to £4 billion of economic opportunities globally by 2024 alone, while productivity gains could surpass over £341 billion within the next few decades.

Conventional computers encode information as bits, which have a binary state of either a one or a zero. Quantum computers store information as quantum bits, or qubits, which can exist in a superposition where they are both one and zero.

This vastly increases the number of calculations they can perform and gives quantum computers the power to solve problems far faster than standard binary computers.

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The UK has shown ambitions to be the world’s first quantum-ready economy. As part of this, the UK provided £10m of funding back in 2020 to build the country’s first quantum computer.

To be built by quantum computing company Rigetti and hosted in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, the device will be used to help businesses adopt quantum technology.

However, there are still challenges related to bringing quantum computers out the lab and into the real world. This includes developing the technology into practical devices, as well as a lack of infrastructure to allow them to work with existing information and communication technologies

Scottish researchers have been working to solve these issues. Glasgow University received £3 million of funding to bring help find real-world applications for the technology.

And Strathclyde University has joined a network of institutions looking to use quantum technology to tackle global challenges.

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