The Australian Department of Defence awarded three additional contracts totaling AU$9 million (approximately US$5.8 million) through the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator’s (ASCA) Emerging and Disruptive Technologies program for information warfare and quantum technology. The contracts supplemented the AU$60 million already committed to the program, according to The Quantum Insider.
Recipients included Silicon Quantum Computing, contracted to develop a sovereign-manufactured quantum-enhanced machine learning processor for Defence, and CSIRO, contracted to develop quantum machine learning algorithms for detecting and mitigating adversarial and spoofing attacks. A third contract supported research into detecting mis- and disinformation by Macquarie University, the University of Melbourne, RMIT, and UTS.
Chief Defence Scientist Professor Tanya Monro said the program aimed to ensure Defence was “on the front foot at a time of rapid technological development.” Quantum technology and information warfare are two of the six key IS&T priorities in the 2024 National Defence Strategy.