“You can dream all day long about scaling [weapons production but] if you don’t have germanium, gallium, and rare earths, it is a pipe dream,” said Michael Cadenazzi, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy.
The Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital is actively addressing critical supply chain vulnerabilities for defense materials, particularly rare earth elements, spurred by growing geopolitical tensions and the recognition of dependencies.
Securing domestic supply chains for rare earth elements is crucial for national security, enabling advanced weapons production and reducing reliance on potential adversaries for critical components.
The US is directly financing domestic rare earth extraction and processing, signaling a concrete step towards onshoring and de-risking its defense industrial base's access to vital minerals.
- · Energy Fuels
- · Phoenix Tailings
- · US Defense Industry
- · Rare Earth Mining Sector
- · Foreign Rare Earth Producers
- · US dependence on foreign rare earths
The loans directly support increased domestic production capacity for rare earth elements necessary for military applications.
This move increases the resilience of the US defense industrial base against supply chain disruptions and geopolitical pressures.
Increased domestic rare earth production could stimulate further investment and innovation in related technologies, potentially fostering a more robust US minerals sector.
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Read at Breaking Defense