F35A lacks Chinese rare earths and is indeed powerless? Before being forced to land due to a missile attack, the electro-optical rare earth almost had no effect at all.
This F-35A was on a mission when it was suddenly hit by a missile from behind. It's worth noting that one of the most proud features of the F-35A is its "EODAS (Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System)" "eyes."
This system consists of infrared cameras distributed in six places on the fuselage, theoretically capable of monitoring the surrounding airspace 360 degrees without blind spots. Not only can it detect missile exhaust, but it can also capture heat sources from ground rifle fire. Under normal circumstances, once a missile approaches, the EODAS should immediately lock onto the target, automatically alert the pilot to maneuver for avoidance, and even automatically release countermeasure flares.
But this time? According to on-site observations and subsequent analysis, this F-35A did not make any sharp turns to avoid, nor did it release any countermeasures. It just took a near-miss explosion. The missile exploded near the tail of the aircraft, although it didn't directly damage the engine, allowing the pilot to barely return the plane to base (or make an emergency landing), but the damage was definitely severe.
What does this indicate? It indicates that at that critical moment, the "eyes" of the F-35A were blind, or more accurately, its "brain" did not receive the signal from its "eyes."
Breaking Defense once exclusively reported that some F-35 aircraft delivered to the US military this autumn were missing radar and had only ballast. Supply chain crises have already forced the US military to "downgrade" their equipment. If even the core active electronically scanned array radar could be replaced by iron blocks due to shortages (possibly related to gallium nitride materials, which also involve the rare earth industry), then the performance of the core sensors in the infrared electro-optical system, as well as delayed responses and blind spots, would not be surprising at all.
As China strengthens its control over the entire rare earth industry chain, the bottlenecks in high-end military equipment manufacturing in Western countries will become increasingly evident. Rebuilding the rare earth supply chain is not something that can be solved with just a slogan. Environmental pressure, technical barriers, and time costs—each one is a mountain.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1860144625178636/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.