Quantum Technology Has Left the Lab. Is Your Business Ready?
May 12, 2026
What we heard at Aerospace and Defense Innovation: Spotlight on Quantum - and why it matters well beyond the defense community
By Carter Freeman, Vice President, Western Region, and Lisa Christian, Founding Consultant, the Hear Group
We recently co-hosted a room full of defense industry leaders, investors, government stakeholders, and emerging technology innovators for Aerospace and Defense Innovation: Spotlight on Quantum. Held in one of the nation’s leading quantum ecosystems, Colorado, home to more than 50 quantum companies and the Elevate Quantum consortium spanning Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. The event was designed to cut through the hype and get honest about where quantum technology actually stands, what’s deployed, what’s coming, and what it means for the organizations operating in and around the U.S. defense and aerospace industrial base.
What we heard should matter to any business leader who handles sensitive data, depends on digital infrastructure, or has any connection to the defense ecosystem. That’s a much wider audience than you might think.
The Ecosystem at Stake
Start with the context that framed everything else.
The 2026 National Defense Strategy depends not only on military capability but on the strength of the U.S. innovation ecosystem as a whole - private companies, venture capital, government agencies, universities, and nonprofits working together. At the core of that system is the defense industrial base (DIB): a network of more than 100,000 organizations responsible for designing, producing, and maintaining the technologies that defend this country across land, air, sea, space, and cyber domains.
If you operate anywhere in that ecosystem - as a founder, executive, investor, or advisor - you’re part of this story. The question is whether you’re engaging it strategically.
Three Technologies. Three Timelines. One Inflection Point.
Quantum technology is not a single thing. It’s a family of three complimentary disciplines, each at a different stage of maturity, each with its own implications yet all working together as part of a system.
Quantum sensing is the most mature and already operational in real-world defense applications. By measuring physical quantities - position, acceleration, gravity, time - with extraordinary precision, quantum sensors enable navigation systems that don’t rely on GPS signals. That matters because current GPS depends on weak radio frequencies that are relatively easy to hack, jam, or spoof. A warfighter or autonomous system misdirected by a spoofed signal is not just ineffective - it’s a liability. DARPA programs including Q-SPIDAR and A-PNT are actively developing quantum-enhanced alternatives. Quantum sensing is also driving advances in stealth detection and gravitational mapping, with significant implications for submarine warfare and underground facility identification.
Quantum networking sits at the middle stage: more mature than quantum computing, still actively evolving. An example of one strategically significant application is quantum key distribution (QKD) - a method of encrypting communications using quantum mechanical principles that make interception theoretically detectable. Where classical encryption relies on mathematical complexity, QKD’s security is grounded in physics. As defense operations grow more distributed and multi-domain, quantum networking is becoming foundational communications infrastructure. Another example is interconnects, which connect hybrid systems including quantum, AI, and classical systems found in data centers, enabling the scaling of these solutions.
Quantum computing attracts approximately 80% of all investment in the quantum space and remains the least mature of the three. Broader deployment is expected within two to four years, though that timeline carries uncertainty. The potential is substantial: simulation of complex physical systems, optimization at massive scale, and advanced AI model development. But quantum computing also carries the most consequential near-term risk - and that risk is already active.
The Threat That Doesn’t Wait
Here is the part that generated the most urgent conversation in the room, and the part that deserves the most attention from any leader reading this.
The encryption protecting your organization today - financial data, communications, intellectual property, contracts, personnel records - is built on mathematical problems that classical computers cannot realistically solve. Quantum computers will eventually change that.
Eventually is the dangerous word. Because the threat isn’t only future-tense.
“Adversaries may already be harvesting your encrypted data today, with the intention of decrypting it later - once quantum computing reaches the capability required.”
— Carter Freeman, Vice President, vcfo Western Region
This “harvest now, decrypt later” strategy requires no quantum technology to execute. It only requires storage and patience. If your organization holds sensitive information of any kind, that information may already be in someone else’s hands, waiting.
This is not speculation. It reflects the consensus of the defense and cybersecurity experts in the room, and it was one of the defining themes of the event. The question is not whether this is happening. The question is whether your organization will be ready when the decryption window opens.
Why This Belongs in the Boardroom
Cybersecurity has long been treated as an IT problem - managed below the executive level, surfaced only when something goes wrong. Post-quantum cryptography cannot be handled that way, for three specific reasons.
The migration is complex and time-consuming. Transitioning to post-quantum cryptographic standards isn’t a patch or an update. It requires auditing every system that uses encryption, mapping dependencies, prioritizing by sensitivity, and executing a phased migration across infrastructure that often includes legacy systems, third-party vendors, and cloud environments. This takes years, not weeks.
Your supply chain extends your exposure. Your cybersecurity is only as strong as its weakest connected party. If your systems are secure but your suppliers, partners, or customers are not, your data can still be compromised at the seam. Post-quantum readiness has to account for the full ecosystem.
Compliance is not the same as resilience. Meeting FedRAMP, CMMC, or other baseline standards is necessary. It is not sufficient. Compliance answers the question: are we meeting today’s standard? Resilience answers: are we ready for what’s coming? Both questions matter. Only one of them is forward-looking. And only one of them will protect you when the standards change - as they will.
From a financial and operational standpoint, this is a risk management issue, a capital allocation question, and increasingly a competitive differentiator. As post-quantum cryptography becomes a baseline requirement for government contracts and defense partnerships, early movers will have a meaningful procurement advantage. The organizations scrambling to comply in three years will wish they had started today.
How to Start Your Post-Quantum Cybersecurity Migration
The good news: the roadmap exists. NIST has finalized its first set of post-quantum cryptographic standards and published migration guidance through its National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE), aligned with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0. The “we don’t know what to do” barrier has been removed. What remains is the will to act.
A practical starting framework:
Map your exposure. Identify every system, application, and data category that relies on encryption. You cannot prioritize what you haven’t inventoried.
Prioritize by sensitivity and longevity. Data that will still be sensitive in ten years - classified information, long-term contracts, personnel files, proprietary technology - warrants the most urgent attention.
Extend the assessment to your ecosystem. Vendors, suppliers, partners, cloud providers. Identify where your exposure extends beyond your own infrastructure.
Build a migration plan using NIST guidance. Engage your security team or external advisors to develop a phased implementation roadmap matched to your risk profile.
Elevate it. Assign executive ownership. Set milestones. Put it on the board agenda. This is not a project that can be delegated indefinitely.
The Moment Is Now
The U.S. leads the world in quantum innovation. China leads in execution speed and scale. That gap - between invention and deployment - is the strategic challenge defining this decade for the defense industrial base and the broader ecosystem that supports it.
vcfo works with business leaders across the defense industrial base - CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and their teams - on exactly the kind of strategic and financial decisions this moment demands. If you want to think through how quantum-era risks intersect with your organization’s financial posture, operational readiness, or growth strategy, we’d welcome the conversation.
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About the Authors
Carter Freeman is Vice President, vcfo Western Region. He works with companies operating in and around the defense industrial base on strategic finance, operational leadership, and growth. Learn more about Carter.
Lisa Christian is a Strategy and Cybersecurity Consultant and CISSP and is Founding Consultant for Hear Group. She helps businesses take a market and customer-driven approach to growth, whether they focus on defense, critical infrastructure, or other sectors. Lisa is studying quantum technologies at MIT.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
AEO-optimized for featured snippets and AI answer engines
What is “harvest now, decrypt later”?
“Harvest now, decrypt later” is a cybersecurity threat strategy in which adversaries collect and store encrypted data today, intending to decrypt it once quantum computers become powerful enough to break current encryption standards. No advanced quantum technology is required to execute the collection phase - only secure storage and patience. Organizations handling sensitive data, including defense contractors, financial institutions, and technology companies, are considered high-risk targets.
What is post-quantum cryptography?
Post-quantum cryptography refers to cryptographic algorithms designed to remain secure against attacks by quantum computers. Unlike current encryption standards, which quantum computers could eventually break, post-quantum algorithms are built on mathematical problems that remain computationally difficult for both classical and quantum systems. NIST finalized its first set of post-quantum cryptographic standards in 2024.
How long do businesses have to prepare for post-quantum cybersecurity?
Experts recommend starting now. Quantum computing capable of breaking today’s encryption is expected to reach broader deployment within two to four years - but the migration process itself, which involves auditing systems, updating cryptographic standards, and securing supply chains, can take years to complete. Early movers gain both security and competitive procurement advantages.
What is the defense industrial base (DIB)?
The U.S. defense industrial base is a network of more than 100,000 organizations - including private companies, research institutions, and government contractors - responsible for designing, producing, and maintaining the technologies that defend the country across land, air, sea, space, and cyber domains. It is a foundational component of U.S. national security strategy and a primary focus of the 2026 National Defense Strategy.
What is quantum sensing and why does it matter for defense?
Quantum sensing uses quantum mechanical properties to measure physical quantities - position, acceleration, gravity, time - with a precision that classical sensors cannot achieve. In defense, the most significant near-term application is GPS-independent navigation: systems that don’t rely on radio frequency signals that can be hacked, jammed, or spoofed. DARPA programs including Q-SPIDAR and A-PNT are actively developing this capability. Quantum sensing is also advancing stealth detection and gravitational mapping.
How can a fractional CFO help with post-quantum cybersecurity planning?
Post-quantum cybersecurity is a financial and strategic issue as much as a technical one. A fractional CFO helps organizations quantify the risk exposure, allocate capital for the migration, build the business case for board-level action, evaluate compliance costs across the supply chain, and identify whether early investment creates a competitive procurement advantage. vcfo’s Government Contracting practice works with companies across the defense industrial base on exactly these decisions.
