SAF explores quantum computing for mission, logistics planning

SINGAPORE – The military is assessing if quantum computers can be used to optimise mission planning, possibly involving unmanned drones to identify hostile forces.

On July 21, tech giant IBM, the Singapore Armed Forces’ Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS), and the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) announced a tie-up to drive this initiative.

Other potential applications include the efficient routing of supply trucks and fuel bowsers to complete resupply missions in the shortest time.

As part of the collaboration, DIS and DSTA will also build quantum computing expertise and receive access to IBM’s quantum computing resources.

“There is significant advantage in national security for us to see how we can apply quantum computing, even though it’s still nascent, and utility and advantage are still some years away,” said Military Expert 7 Guo Jinghua, commander of SAF’s C4 and Digitalisation Command.

Quantum computers are said to be superior to traditional computers as they can examine a countless number of possibilities to pinpoint a probable solution within hours, instead of the hundreds and thousands of years that traditional computers need to do the same task.

“We need to make sure that within defence, there is a group of engineers and developers with an understanding of quantum computing, algorithms and the programming frameworks,” said Guo.

Quantum computers are tipped to lead new discoveries in fields such as encryption, medicine and more sophisticated artificial intelligence. Experts project that quantum computers will be running complex algorithms reliably and self-correcting any hardware errors by 2030.

“It’s important for us to start so that we can closely track the progress of it,” said Guo, who was speaking on the sidelines of IBM Think Singapore, the tech firm’s annual flagship conference, attended by business leaders, policymakers and analysts.

Noting that logistics is an important defence issue, he cited how distributing supplies using 20 trucks across 50 locations alone creates a quintillion possible route combinations.

Each variable added to the scenario would also scale the problem exponentially, said Guo, adding that it would take a classical computer a longer time to search for the best path.

Besides the military, ports and banks in Singapore are also looking to tap the power of quantum computing.

In port logistics, where millions of container movements are handled each year, “it makes a difference whether the container you are unloading from one vessel is stacked at level two or at level eight”, said Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo during a fireside chat at IBM’s event on July 21.

If stacked efficiently, there would be a lot less work to reload the container onto the next vessel. “But these are very complex computations,” she said.

In the financial sector, OCBC Bank has been working with local universities to use quantum algorithms and computers to strengthen fraud detection, perform derivative pricing and beef up cryptography.

Quantum computing can also be used to accelerate the development of AI models, said Ana Paula Assis, senior vice-president for IBM Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. “They are not competing technologies; they are convergent,” she said during a keynote session on July 21.

Quantum computers uncover new things such as how molecules interact and new materials, and analyse financial outcomes. AI models then learn from the increased knowledge base.

Paula Assis said: “AI learning from quantum discoveries creates a powerful flywheel.”