Jerry Petersen
Maryland-based IonQ will provide the Air Force Research Laboratory with a pair of barium-based trapped ion quantum computing systems under a new contract worth $25.5 million.
The systems will be installed at AFRL’s facility in Rome, New York, and will help the organization in research work related to quantum networking and the development of quantum computing applications, IonQ said Wednesday.
The new deal expands a prior agreement reached in September 2022, where IonQ initially provided AFRL access to its trapped ion systems.
At the time, Michael Hayduk, the deputy director at AFRL’s information directorate, said trapped ion systems were one of the leading technologies in quantum computing because of their unique properties.
More recently, Hayduk said his organization “is seeing incredible achievements on trapped ion quantum systems,” noting that such achievements would help bring about growth in quantum computing in the United States.
For his part, IonQ CEO Peter Chapman said the partnership will contribute to the advancement of U.S. defense technologies.
“This agreement with AFRL will advance quantum communications, networking, and computing, while continuing our progress from basic research to directly supporting agency missions,” Chapman added.
