The United States leads the development of some of the most sophisticated defense systems on the planet, but its military industry remains key dependent on two of its main geopolitical rivals: China and Russia. The reason is not in technology, but in access to the raw materials necessary to manufacture a large part of their arsenal, as they have collected from The Daily Fact.
This is how the journalist Gianluca Schinaia explains it in his new book The era of matrices, where he analyzes how the control of rare earths and other strategic minerals has become a decisive factor for the global balance of power.
One of the most representative examples is the F-35 fighter, Considered one of the most advanced combat aircraft in the world. Each unit incorporates around 417 kilos of rare earth elements, essential materials for the operation of radar, guidance systems, stealth technology and other electronic equipment. In the case of the Virginia class nuclear submarines, that figure reaches four tons.
The problem is that a good part of these materials comes from countries with which Washington maintains a strong rivalry. China dominates the world market for rare earths and also controls the supply of minerals such as gallium or tungsten, used in different military systems. Russia, for its part, plays a leading role in the production of antimony, necessary to make ammunition, and aircraft-grade titanium.
This dependency It already caused a delicate episode in 2012. During the assembly of more than a hundred F-35 fighters, it was detected that several components used magnets manufactured by a Chinese company. The situation forced the Pentagon to grant an exemption to a US law in force since 1973 that prohibited the acquisition of certain materials for the defense industry from foreign suppliers. That exception remained in place for a decade and it was not until 2023 that the ban was applied again.
The dependence on these raw materials does not only affect the F-35. Other US military equipment, such as Virginia-class submarines, some F-16 fighters, B-1 Lancer bombers, certain missiles and even drones used in current conflicts as well They require minerals whose production is dominated by China or Russia.
Schinaia’s analysis argues that military power no longer depends solely on the ability to design increasingly advanced weapons, but also on control supply chains of the materials that make its manufacture possible. In this scenario, the United States continues to be the largest producer and exporter of weapons in the world, but an essential part of the resources necessary to build it continue to come from two of its main strategic competitors.
