A bunch of quantum researchers has issued a manifesto urging colleagues to withstand what it calls the “militarisation” of quantum science. The authors, who describe themselves as “Quantum Scientists for Disarmament”, say they oppose navy makes use of of quantum research, reject navy funding for educational work, and wish universities to reveal which quantum initiatives take defence cash.
The manifesto, uploaded to the arXiv repository on the internet on January 13, frames its name as a response to wider traits in rearmament and the unfold of dual-use applied sciences, i.e. those who declare civilian worth whereas additionally serving defence targets. The group proposes 4 quick steps: to talk as a collective towards navy use, to pressure an ethics debate inside the sphere, to create a discussion board for involved researchers, and to ascertain a public database itemizing defence-funded initiatives at public universities.
“We still believe that war must be utterly rejected as a means of settling international disputes, and that peace can only be guaranteed by diplomacy, international treaties, and cooperation, rather than by mutual assured destruction,” the manifesto says. “As scientists working in a non-neutral research field, we can raise our voices toward that aim.”
Military patronage
The researchers argue that quantum physics is now not simply primary science and that its navy purposes have turn out to be evident. These embrace quantum communications, area and drone sensing, high-precision timing for navigation, and surveillance.
The manifesto says that NATO, for instance, has positioned its quantum physics work inside its broader “emerging and disruptive technologies” agenda and launched a public quantum technique abstract in 2024 that described research on this discipline as a component of strategic competitors. European establishments have additionally described quantum physics as related to defence initiatives, with the European Commission describing quantum sensors as providing efficiency enhancements for navy operations.
The manifesto additionally says India’s National Quantum Mission works in “strong collaboration” with the private and non-private defence sectors. Late final month, India’s Chief of Defence Staff launched a ‘Military Quantum Mission Policy Framework’ to information how the armed forces plan to combine quantum applied sciences.
Researchers don’t all the time see the defence implications of a challenge on the outset. Even when partial data exists, establishments can conceal it behind funding buildings and partnership automobiles. This is why they are saying they’ve referred to as for a public database, to pressure businesses and establishments to be clear about who funds what, and to cut back the room for any actors to disclaim their involvement after a expertise finds its manner right into a navy utility.
Military patronage has an extended historical past in physics, a discipline during which it has usually formed research agendas with out all the time dictating the day-to-day contents of experiments. Quantum physics itself grew out of makes an attempt within the early twentieth century to clarify atoms and lightweight, work related to figures comparable to Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and Erwin Schrödinger. But the second half of the century pushed quantum concepts into units like atomic clocks, masers and lasers, and semiconductor physics, all of which states handled as strategic applied sciences.
Accounts of the event of quantum electronics and universities’ incentives and organisational buildings through the Cold War have paved the way in which for debates about whether or not such patronage solely accelerated research or additionally modified its path, and about how a lot company scientists have retained inside these funding techniques.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on the U.S. Department of Defence can be famed for straight funding quantum data science for many years.
‘Soft power’
Today, nonetheless, quantum physics, cyber safety, superior synthetic intelligence, and area techniques are all capabilities that governments need to management, scale, and weaponise, usually with the nervousness that their rivals may achieve this first.
The manifesto acknowledges that the larger menace isn’t each piece of quantum research resulting in a weapon however that defence-linked funding can reshape the entire ecosystem within the navy institution’s favour. This is especially as a result of its funding is secure, which is enticing for college students and universities.
“The expansion of military funding for both basic and applied research on emerging technologies, including quantum technologies, is not limited to the world’s major military powers. In a broader context, this opaque expansion often takes the form of asymmetric military-academic partnerships between the defense departments of powerful nations and academic institutions of the Global South,” the manifesto provides.
“This strategy serves as a subtle mechanism through which hegemonic countries impose their ‘soft’ power over nations of the Global South. For instance, from the perspective of states that can spend less of their public money on science, these funds can support projects that would not be executed otherwise, and help maintain pre-existing infrastructure and personnel, appearing as nearly irrecusable offers.”
Published – February 22, 2026 03:39 pm IST