IonQ (IONQ) announced on February 23 of this year that it has been selected as a participant in the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s contract called SHIELD IDIQ. The contract is a program with a maximum budget of US$151 billion aimed at accelerating anti-missile defense technological capabilities.
The company says its participation is aimed at promoting federal research and development. Applying quantum technology to national security. IonQ provides quantum computing, quantum networks, sensors, and security systems based on quantum physics.
advertisement I won’t explain the details What specific quantum applications will be prioritized? It is also unclear what level of technological maturity is required for integration into anti-missile systems.
Specifically, the largest company specializing in quantum technology has gone public in the United States. expand Access to funding to continue developing the technologyin this case related to U.S. federal defense.
This news contrasts with a report released by Wolfpack Research in early February that stated: IonQ had lost a strategic contract with the US Department of Defense. Research shows this has cost them 86% of their income. The company’s stock fell more than 25% in the week following the release of the survey results.
IonQ and quantum breakthroughs
IonQ is an institution that specializes in the technology, unlike other companies developing quantum such as IBM or Google.
As reported by CriptoNoticias, last June IonQ Quantum computers with 2 million physical qubits and 80,000 logical qubits by 2030
At the end of January last year, IonQ announced that it wanted to move forward the start of functional testing of its 200,000 physical qubit quantum processing units (QPUs) to 2028 following its acquisition of SkyWater Technology.
If this goal is achieved, it would represent a significant increase in scale compared to current systems.
In this context, accessing funding from the SHIELD program means that IonQ’s quantum development potential increases.
Advances related to quantum computing and this type of financing are important, especially when it comes to Bitcoin, cryptocurrency networks, and banking systems. The so-called “Q-day” may be approachingthe day when quantum computers can break the security of digital systems.
It is currently estimated that it takes about 2,000 logical qubits to decipher the digital signature of a Bitcoin transaction, but recent research has reduced that number by almost half.
How does the US military agency’s SHIELD contract work?
The SHIELD (Homeland Security Innovative and Scalable Enterprise Tiered Defense) program aims to accelerate the incorporation of innovative technologies into defense systems.
It operates on an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, and allows governments to issue specific work orders with budgets, technical goals, and deadlines.
Since the announcement on February 23rd, IONQ stock is up 4.7% year to date.:
However, despite the increased price of IONQ; Companies related to quantum computing are in decline At the price of the stock. This is the result of, among other things, reports pointing to inflated revenues and the loss of government contracts to IonQ, which could be set in a new direction by what was announced on February 23rd.
