WASHINGTON — The U.S. military relies on a network of countries around the world to produce the sophisticated weapons and equipment that arm its warfighters. It imports missiles from Norway and specialized technology from France and Italy for fighter jets. It equips Army soldiers with a recoilless rifle produced by a Swedish company and depends on Canada to assemble combat vehicles such as the Stryker. “There’s not a single weapon system that I know of that doesn’t have some type of foreign content,” said Bill Greenwalt, a former Defense Department acquisition official now at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.
The consequences for the military industrial base could be steep. A single F-35 contains 900 pounds of rare earths, a Virginia-class submarine contains 9,200 pounds of them and China processes 90% of the world’s rare earths supply.
“Even before the latest restrictions, the U.S. defense industrial base struggled with limited capacity and lacked the ability to scale up production to meet defense technology demands,” according to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. “Further bans on critical minerals inputs will only widen the gap, enabling China to strengthen its military capabilities more quickly than the United States.”
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The consequences for the military industrial base could be steep. A single F-35 contains 900 pounds of rare earths, a Virginia-class submarine contains 9,200 pounds of them and China processes 90% of the world’s rare earths supply.
“Even before the latest restrictions, the U.S. defense industrial base struggled with limited capacity and lacked the ability to scale up production to meet defense technology demands,” according to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. “Further bans on critical minerals inputs will only widen the gap, enabling China to strengthen its military capabilities more quickly than the United States.”
Complete Article:

‘Prices are going to go up’: Trade war threatens US weapon production
The U.S. military relies on a network of countries around the world to produce the sophisticated weapons and equipment that arm its warfighters.