The DARPA It’s About Time award funds manufacturing development and 25 Evergreen-05 optical atomic clocks, with an unexercised $30 million option for 100 more units.
IonQ said a $28 million contract modification under DARPA’s It’s About Time program will fund manufacturing development and 25 of its Evergreen-05 optical atomic clocks, clarifying that the previously announced 125-unit total depends on an additional unexercised $30 million option for 100 more clocks. If fully exercised, the combined award would reach up to $58 million and support delivery of 125 units to U.S. government customers for mission-critical applications including radar, secure communications, and precision geolocation. IonQ also said it will invest $15 million in dedicated production space, manufacturing and test equipment, testing capabilities, and support staff. The Evergreen-05, originally developed under DARPA’s Robust Optical Clock Network program, is a compact optical atomic clock with a 5-liter, shoe box-sized form factor. IonQ said it delivers timing stability of 50 femtoseconds at one second and nanosecond holdover over 10 days, projecting to less than one second of timing error over 30 million years. The company said the device outperforms active hydrogen masers in phase noise and short-term stability while offering comparable long-term drift in 1/75th of the volume. DARPA first backed the underlying technology in 2019 through an initial effort for Vector Atomic, which IonQ acquired in October 2025 to expand into quantum position, navigation, and timing.