 "An F-35 fighter jet on the deck of the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington. (Photo: AP)")
Even as China controls most of the world’s rare earths, there is one mineral whose supply it controls completely.
The rare earth mineral, samarium, is used almost entirely by the military industry and is required to make fighter planes, missiles, smart bombs, and other advanced platforms. The centrality is such that planes like F-35 cannot be made without samarium magnets.
China banned the export of samarium and six other rare earths in April amid the ongoing trade war with the United States.
Out of these seven rare earths, the demand of six —dysprosium, gadolinium, lutetium, scandium, terbium, and yttrium— is largely civilian, but samarium is used “almost exclusively used for military purposes”, Stanley Trout, a metallurgist at the Metropolitan State University of Denver, told The New York Times.
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China can choke Western militaries with samarium supply ban
With a halt in the supply of samarium, China can essentially choke Western militaries by essentially blocking deliveries of new platforms and affecting the repair, maintenance, and upgradation of existing platforms. It appears that the plan is already in motion.
Even as China has started granting licences for some other rare earths, such as dysprosium and terbium, licences have not been granted for samarium, according to The Times.
William Bain, the head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, noted that the continued halt of samarium supplies would bring the production of planes like F-35 to a halt.
For context, F-35 needs up to 50 pounds of samarium magnets and its maker, Lockheed Martin, is the main customer of samarium in the United States.
“We’ve seen some relaxation over the weekend with licenses granted in sectors connected with robotics and electric vehicles, but if you take, for example, a critical mineral like samarium, within magnets, that’s absolutely essential for F-35 fighter jet construction in the US. They can’t make them without that. And not having access to that is severely affecting both US construction in that area, but also perhaps its national security if that remains in place,” Bain told CNBC.
Samarium chokehold gives China edge
There is evidence that samarium and other rare earths have given China edge in ongoing trade negotiations with the United States.
After focus of the talks shifted from tariffs to rare earths , China appears to have secured concessions from the United States regarding Chinese access to critical Western technologies in return of relaxation on Chinese supply of rare earths.
Western companies and the US Department of Defense keep samarium reserves that would only last for months. In the absence of new supplies, reserves are expected to get depleted soon. Such a disruption has come at a time when the United States and others in the West are replenishing their arsenals after stocks’ depletion because of supplies of Ukraine and Israel.