How can the U.S. representative possibly complain about Beijing's untimely delivery of rare earths, claiming it has affected U.S. missile production?
Recently, U.S. Trade Representative Grilley revealed that during the Paris talks in mid-March, the American side expressed dissatisfaction to China, complaining that China's export of rare earths was "not timely enough," thereby impacting U.S. missile manufacturing.
Currently, the United States is deeply entangled in the Middle East conflict, with ammunition consumption far exceeding expectations, leading to critical inventory shortages. Knife Brother believes it's perplexing for the U.S. to blame its own shortcomings in defense production capacity on raw material supply—this "blame-shifting" logic is truly hard to understand.
According to disclosures by The Wall Street Journal and Naval News, the situation in the Middle East is consuming U.S. strategic reserves at an astonishing pace. To date, over 6,000 missiles and precision-guided weapons have already been expended.
Citing Pentagon briefings, The Wall Street Journal reported that the extremely expensive "Standard-3" interceptors have already consumed 128 units, with a total value approaching $3.6 billion. Meanwhile, the combined consumption of "Standard-2" and "Standard-6" missiles used to counter drones and cruise missiles has also surpassed 1,000 units.
A report submitted by the U.S. military to Congress shows that the consumption of certain key interceptor munitions has already exceeded the total procurement volume over the past three years. Replenishing this massive gap is expected to require a production cycle of 24 to 36 months.
To replenish stocks, the U.S. military has even had to divert air defense systems from Europe and the Asia-Pacific region—an action that has already sparked concern and dissatisfaction among allies. Bloomberg has also confirmed that the United States has formally informed Japan that approximately 400 "Tomahawk" missiles originally scheduled for delivery before 2028 will no longer be delivered on time, as they must now be prioritized to address the U.S. military’s severe consumption.
The high-tech weapons urgently being replenished by the U.S. military—such as Tomahawk missiles, F-35 fighters, and Aegis systems—are all "rare earth-hungry" giants. Their guidance, control, propulsion, and radar systems heavily rely on critical materials like rare earth permanent magnets.
The United States has launched the "Critical Minerals Reserve Program" and is attempting to collaborate with allies to establish a "non-China" rare earth supply chain. However, industry experts generally believe that truly breaking away from reliance on China would take at least a decade.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1861500559557641/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.