Quantum Sensing for Defence — The Quietest, Most Procurement-Ready Segment

Quantum sensing is emerging as one of the most operationally relevant segments of the quantum economy because it addresses a problem that already exists inside defence planning: the vulnerability of positioning, navigation and timing systems in contested environments. Modern military platforms depend heavily on GPS and wider GNSS services, but these signals can be jammed, spoofed, degraded, denied or made unavailable undersea. This creates a direct requirement for alternative and complementary sources of navigation, timing and environmental awareness. Quantum clocks, inertial sensors, gravimeters and magnetometers are therefore not being assessed only as advanced scientific instruments, but as potential components of resilient military systems able to operate when external signals cannot be trusted. The central question is whether quantum sensing can move from laboratory performance and prototype trials to platform-integrated defence capability before other quantum segments generate comparable procurement traction.