By David Wood
In a recent conversation with D-Wave Chief Technology Evangelist Murray Thom on d-wave’s Quantum Matters podcast, Davidson President & CEO Dale Moore discussed the evolving role of quantum computing in national security and why the technology is no longer confined to research labs and future-state roadmaps.
For years, quantum computing has occupied a unique place in defense technology discussions—promising enough to attract attention, but often viewed as a capability that remained years away from practical implementation.
According to Moore, that perception is becoming increasingly outdated.
“Quantum is not a 10-year-away technology. It exists.”
That statement carries additional weight at Davidson’s Huntsville headquarters, home to Alabama’s first on-premises D-Wave Advantage2 quantum computer. More importantly, it reflects a broader shift occurring across both industry and government: the conversation is no longer centered on whether quantum computing will eventually matter. It is increasingly focused on where it can deliver measurable advantages today.
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The Challenge Isn’t Missiles. It’s Complexity.
Modern missile defense is often described in terms of interceptors, radars, and command-and-control systems. Underneath those technologies, however, lies an extraordinarily difficult optimization problem.
Defending an area—whether a military installation, a population center, or critical infrastructure—requires determining the best placement of sensors and effectors, prioritizing defended assets, accounting for threat trajectories, managing limited inventories, and making decisions in compressed timelines.
As threats increase, so does complexity.
The challenge becomes even more difficult when hundreds of threats, sensors, and defensive assets must be evaluated simultaneously. In these scenarios, decision quality and decision speed become equally important.
“It’s a very complex problem at scale,” Moore explained during the podcast.
That reality led Davidson to explore whether quantum hybrid approaches could help address optimization challenges that become increasingly difficult for classical computing systems alone.
Moving Beyond Theory
To test that hypothesis, Davidson partnered with D-Wave and Anduril on a benchmark project focused on missile defense planning and resource allocation.
The effort compared a quantum hybrid approach against a classical solution across a range of increasingly complex scenarios.
The results were notable.
In simulations involving more than 500 threats and hundreds of sensors and effectors, the quantum-enabled solution demonstrated a 19 percent improvement in threat negation compared to the classical approach.
For Moore, the significance extends beyond a benchmark result.
The project provided evidence that quantum computing can contribute to solving a real-world defense problem that military planners care about today—not a hypothetical future use case.
“These are missiles, drones, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles,” Moore noted. “Technologies that, if not negated, can have significant impacts on both human lives and critical infrastructure.”
The benchmark represents one of the clearest demonstrations yet that quantum-enabled optimization can deliver measurable value in a mission-relevant environment.
Building the Foundation for Secure Quantum Applications
While much public discussion around quantum computing focuses on computational performance, Davidson’s work extends beyond algorithms and hardware.
National security environments introduce unique requirements involving security, compartmentalization, accreditation, and classified operations.
For emerging technologies to have meaningful impact in defense applications, they must ultimately function within those environments.
That challenge is one reason Davidson invested in hosting an on-premises quantum system and is working to support secure operational contexts that many commercial environments never encounter.
According to Moore, enabling quantum computing within accredited environments may be just as important as the technology itself.
“Data drives everything,” he said. “Unfortunately in our world, data goes to different levels of classification very quickly.”
The ability to explore quantum applications within secure environments could help reduce barriers to adoption and accelerate the evaluation of mission-focused use cases.
The Cost of Waiting
Emerging technologies inevitably involve risk.
Organizations must invest resources before outcomes are guaranteed. New capabilities require experimentation, training, and long-term commitment.
But Moore argues there is another risk that deserves equal consideration: the risk of standing still.
Throughout the discussion, he repeatedly returned to a simple premise. National security challenges continue to evolve. Adversaries continue to innovate. Technology continues to advance.
The organizations best positioned to respond are often those willing to explore promising capabilities before they become mainstream.
“The world that we work in has very serious consequences when things fail,” Moore said. “And I’m not willing to bet my family’s life on the fact that we’re not ready to defend against technologies that continue to advance because we weren’t willing to invest in it ourselves.”
That philosophy has shaped Davidson’s approach to quantum computing over the last four years. Rather than waiting for perfect certainty, the company has chosen to actively explore where quantum technologies can create measurable value for defense and national security applications.
Looking Ahead
Quantum computing will not replace every classical system. Nor will every defense challenge require a quantum solution.
But as practical applications continue to emerge, the conversation is changing.
What was once viewed primarily as a research topic is increasingly becoming a tool for addressing some of the most difficult optimization, data fusion, machine learning, cybersecurity, and decision-support challenges facing the defense community.
The future of quantum computing in national security is still being written.
For Davidson, however, that future is no longer a distant possibility.
It is already underway.