China Working Toward Next-Gen Quantum Radar to Track Ballistic Missiles

Quantum radar is a remote-sensing method based on quantum entanglement.

 

The state-owned Chinese company responsible for developing high-end electronics has claimed that the next version of its quantum radar will be even more powerful than previously thought.

In 2016, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) announced that it had tested a quantum radar with a range of around 62 miles, or 100 kilometers – roughly five times further than the range of its US and German competitors, Popular Science reported. The next generation of the radar will be capable of tracking ballistic missiles in outer space and aircraft flying at extremely high altitudes, the South China Morning Post reported Friday.

By mounting a quantum radar onto a near-space vehicle, China’s air force could “effectively monitor high-speed flying objects in the upper atmosphere and above,” CETC said at an industry exhibition in Nanjing, SCMP added.

China speeds ahead of U.S. as quantum race escalates, worrying scientists

In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a rocket carrying the world’s first quantum satellite lifts off from northwestern China’s Gansu Province, on Aug. 16, 2016. China’s creation of a quantum satellite system pushes forward its ability to send communications that are impenetrable by hackers. Jin Liwang AP

 

WASHINGTON U.S. and other Western scientists voice awe, and even alarm, at China’s quickening advances and spending on quantum communications and computing, revolutionary technologies that could give a huge military and commercial advantage to the nation that conquers them.

The concerns echo — although to a lesser degree — the shock in the West six decades ago when the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite, sparking a space race.

In quick succession, China in recent months has utilized a quantum satellite to transmit ultra-secure data, inaugurated a 1,243-mile quantum link between Shanghai and Beijing, and announced a $10 billion quantum computing center.