Pentagon planners are gaming out nightmare scenarios as China considers restricting exports of:
Critical Mineral Impacts:
- Defense Production
- F-35 delays: 6 months (neodymium magnets)
- Hypersonics stalled (scandium alloys)
- Satellite production halt (germanium)
- Consumer Tech
- iPhone production: +25% cost
- EV batteries: 90-day shortage
- Cloud infrastructure: rare earth servers
US Vulnerability Map:
| Mineral | Chinese Share | US Stockpile |
|---|---|---|
| Neodymium | 92% | 37 days |
| Scandium | 85% | 29 days |
| Germanium | 78% | 42 days |
