https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/03/16/us-military-china-minerals-supply-chain/
America’s Military Depends on Minerals That China Controls
Rethinking supply chains is vital for U.S. security.
By Morgan D. Bazilian, Emily J. Holland, and Joshua Busby
A conveyor belt carries chunks of cobalt in the Dominican Republic of the Congo.
A conveyor belt carries chunks of cobalt in the Dominican Republic of the Congo.
A conveyor belt carries chunks of cobalt at a plant in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Feb. 16, 2018. Samir Tounsi/AFP via Getty Images
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March 16, 2023, 4:05 PM
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In 1944, when the outcome of World War II hung in the balance, the rapid advance of Allied forces across Europe suddenly stalled due to fuel shortages. In the famous words of then-Gen. George Patton: “My men can eat their belts, but my tanks have gotta have gas.”
Patton’s quote is a testament to the crucial role of supply chains and logistics in military operations. Simply stated, supply chains win wars and save lives. Materials need to be in the right place at the right time.
For the United States today, those materials include many more resources than fuel for tanks. A host of so-called critical minerals are essential to building and maintaining modern weapons systems. In today’s globalized world, the United States and other major world powers are alarmingly dependent on other nations—first and foremost China—for these materials. China’s rapid buildup of a sophisticated military has rendered it America’s most consequential strategic competitor and has set the so-called pacing threat for American defense strategy.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrated the dangers inherent in heavy dependence on another state, especially a hostile one. The war ushered in the most serious energy crisis since the 1970s and forced Europe, which had become dangerously complacent about reliance on Russian oil and gas, to spend billions of euros seeking alternate suppliers and insulating consumers from inflation and astronomical energy prices.
If you’ve heard of critical minerals before, then it was likely in the context of climate change and the energy transition. Lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and many other minerals are critical for building electric car batteries, wind turbines, solar panels, and other clean energy technologies. Russia’s war in Ukraine has hastened the clean energy transition and pointed a spotlight on the availabilities of these minerals.
But beyond the national security implications of energy security, a steady and secure supply of critical minerals is just as essential if the United States wishes to maintain its role as a military superpower.
This national security aspect of critical minerals does not garner the same public attention as the energy transition due, in part, to the necessary secrecy that surrounds military preparedness and planning. But the fact remains: The United States and its allies do not produce anywhere near enough of these minerals to maintain our military’s technological edge in the coming decades.
The U.S. Defense Department has also been a longtime leader in materials science and advanced weaponry, fields that require abundant minerals and metals and where demands can suddenly and dramatically jump. Consider the massive shipments of armaments that are going to Ukraine or the armaments that must be stored up for possible postures in the South China Sea.
But maintaining the U.S. military’s existing stockpiles is only one challenge. Despite the fact that the United States is not engaged in direct conflict, the war in Ukraine has depleted U.S. stocks of some types of ammunition to “uncomfortably low” levels. The U.S. Army is now conducting research into how to support its current ammunitions industrial base and has asked Congress for $500 million a year to upgrade ammunitions plants. Developing advanced weaponry will require new critical minerals and the supply chains that deliver them. Advanced semiconductors are crucial components of missile guidance systems, cyberwarfare, and artificial intelligence capabilities. These semiconductors require materials, including gallium, arsenic, and neon—much of which are located and produced in Russia, China, and Ukraine. The United States does not produce gallium, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine halved the world’s supply of semiconductor-grade neon.
The U.S. Geological Survey keeps a list of these and other minerals critical to U.S. national security, economic, infrastructure, and energy needs. In 2018, the list comprised 35 minerals. By 2020, it had grown to 50 minerals, with many focused on military applications. Some of these minerals include titanium for aerospace components, high temperature superalloys for turbines and hypersonic missiles, ceramic matrix composites, and hypersonic thermal protection systems. Another mineral on the list—lanthanum—is used for night vision goggles. Beryllium is used for targeting and surveillance systems as well as for fighter jets.
Some critical minerals are used for the sonar, radar, and surveillance systems that form the U.S. military’s first line of defense. Neodymium and samarium are used for powerful magnets that can withstand high temperatures. Germanium is used for infrared devices and in solar panels on military satellites. Niobium is used in the superalloys that jet engines are made from, and holmium is needed for solid state lasers.
America’s Military Depends on Minerals That China Controls
Rethinking supply chains is vital for U.S. security.
By Morgan D. Bazilian, Emily J. Holland, and Joshua Busby
A conveyor belt carries chunks of cobalt in the Dominican Republic of the Congo.
A conveyor belt carries chunks of cobalt in the Dominican Republic of the Congo.
A conveyor belt carries chunks of cobalt at a plant in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Feb. 16, 2018. Samir Tounsi/AFP via Getty Images
My FP: Follow topics and authors to get straight to what you like. Exclusively for FP subscribers. Subscribe Now | Log In
March 16, 2023, 4:05 PM
View Comments (2)
In 1944, when the outcome of World War II hung in the balance, the rapid advance of Allied forces across Europe suddenly stalled due to fuel shortages. In the famous words of then-Gen. George Patton: “My men can eat their belts, but my tanks have gotta have gas.”
Patton’s quote is a testament to the crucial role of supply chains and logistics in military operations. Simply stated, supply chains win wars and save lives. Materials need to be in the right place at the right time.
For the United States today, those materials include many more resources than fuel for tanks. A host of so-called critical minerals are essential to building and maintaining modern weapons systems. In today’s globalized world, the United States and other major world powers are alarmingly dependent on other nations—first and foremost China—for these materials. China’s rapid buildup of a sophisticated military has rendered it America’s most consequential strategic competitor and has set the so-called pacing threat for American defense strategy.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrated the dangers inherent in heavy dependence on another state, especially a hostile one. The war ushered in the most serious energy crisis since the 1970s and forced Europe, which had become dangerously complacent about reliance on Russian oil and gas, to spend billions of euros seeking alternate suppliers and insulating consumers from inflation and astronomical energy prices.
If you’ve heard of critical minerals before, then it was likely in the context of climate change and the energy transition. Lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and many other minerals are critical for building electric car batteries, wind turbines, solar panels, and other clean energy technologies. Russia’s war in Ukraine has hastened the clean energy transition and pointed a spotlight on the availabilities of these minerals.
But beyond the national security implications of energy security, a steady and secure supply of critical minerals is just as essential if the United States wishes to maintain its role as a military superpower.
This national security aspect of critical minerals does not garner the same public attention as the energy transition due, in part, to the necessary secrecy that surrounds military preparedness and planning. But the fact remains: The United States and its allies do not produce anywhere near enough of these minerals to maintain our military’s technological edge in the coming decades.
The U.S. Defense Department has also been a longtime leader in materials science and advanced weaponry, fields that require abundant minerals and metals and where demands can suddenly and dramatically jump. Consider the massive shipments of armaments that are going to Ukraine or the armaments that must be stored up for possible postures in the South China Sea.
But maintaining the U.S. military’s existing stockpiles is only one challenge. Despite the fact that the United States is not engaged in direct conflict, the war in Ukraine has depleted U.S. stocks of some types of ammunition to “uncomfortably low” levels. The U.S. Army is now conducting research into how to support its current ammunitions industrial base and has asked Congress for $500 million a year to upgrade ammunitions plants. Developing advanced weaponry will require new critical minerals and the supply chains that deliver them. Advanced semiconductors are crucial components of missile guidance systems, cyberwarfare, and artificial intelligence capabilities. These semiconductors require materials, including gallium, arsenic, and neon—much of which are located and produced in Russia, China, and Ukraine. The United States does not produce gallium, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine halved the world’s supply of semiconductor-grade neon.
The U.S. Geological Survey keeps a list of these and other minerals critical to U.S. national security, economic, infrastructure, and energy needs. In 2018, the list comprised 35 minerals. By 2020, it had grown to 50 minerals, with many focused on military applications. Some of these minerals include titanium for aerospace components, high temperature superalloys for turbines and hypersonic missiles, ceramic matrix composites, and hypersonic thermal protection systems. Another mineral on the list—lanthanum—is used for night vision goggles. Beryllium is used for targeting and surveillance systems as well as for fighter jets.
Some critical minerals are used for the sonar, radar, and surveillance systems that form the U.S. military’s first line of defense. Neodymium and samarium are used for powerful magnets that can withstand high temperatures. Germanium is used for infrared devices and in solar panels on military satellites. Niobium is used in the superalloys that jet engines are made from, and holmium is needed for solid state lasers.
