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America shot its arsenal empty in 2 wars. Now it needs Beijing’s permission to reload (www.yahoo.com)

submitted 1 month ago by tacoplease@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hubris is a hell of a drug

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[+] green_red_black@slrpnk.net 59 points 1 month ago

[deleted]

[-] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 46 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Cobalt is easy to obtain outside of China but the issue is the Samarium. It can be obtained from Acid Cracking a mineral called Monazite which was once historically mined in South Carolina until a massive reserve was discovered in india, and it actually has a higher yield per weight than the Chinese Bastnäsite which can also be found in a couple of places in Africa.

The problem is even if the USA could source from other places than China in theory, the actual infrastructure to do so is not currently in place, and furthermore the Trump admin's capability in securing a deal for the future is practically nonexistent.

Sometimes economists don't/can't factor in changes in production starting from near 0. Kind of like, any economist before the space program would have said a moon landing was 100% economically unfeasible.

[-] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 40 points 1 month ago

Steve Hanke is a professor of applied economics at The Johns Hopkins University. Jeffrey Weng is the chief of staff at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise.

I'm trusting the authors on this one. Samarium-cobalt is undeniably a chinese monopoly, that's been discussed for some years. Now the combat is accelerating china's timelines.

[-] perestroika@slrpnk.net 6 points 4 weeks ago

I read the article and I have some doubts. The amount of these materials for thousands of missiles can probably be sourced elsewhere on Earth, possibly at the cost of paying more and getting shipments slower.

However, the market control that China currently enjoys, allows its native industries a considerable advantage in other sectors that needs millions of products - like cars, motorcycles, mopeds, etc.

Some of the uses listed seem are fairly extravagant and I believe materials could be replaced with something far cheaper (advise would be found in Ukraine).

But it does remain a fact that China has a near monopoly in rare earths.

[-] Samskara@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

The problem isn’t raw materials only, it’s production capacity. Missiles for patriot are only produced in low numbers per year. Increasing production capacity will need investment and time, and of course governments ordering more of them. The same is true for other high end weapons systems.

Finding a new source for raw materials might include construction of new mining and refinery facilities.

[-] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

Yeah this article is... such an oversimplification as to be basically useless. Unfortunately this is one of the more complex topics in the whole of geopolitics, which is a shame because it is a really sexy topic to write an article about.

[-] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I'm not sure what exactly the refining of cobalt to weapons grade is, but DR Congo exported 200,800 Tons of Cobalt in 2024 which is over 100x as much as China.

EDIT: Ah, I see, the Samarium is the problem not the Cobalt lmao

Looks like Monazite is a good source for it with extensive reserves in India, Brazil, and South Carolina, and as an added bonus it can be used to harvest Thorium.

[-] Kirp123@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

India and Brazil sure are countries that the US has good relations with and has not tariffed at all lately.

Having the reserves and actually using those reserves are a different thing. Even if the US starts setting up mining and processing facilities in North Carolina today it would still take a long time until those facilities become operational and produce the needed quantities.

[-] Jhex@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago

India maybe but there have been very publio spats between the orange pedophile and Brazil late last year

[-] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You're right, the USA can only import from this list of countries it has not tariffed:

/sarcasm

Jokes aside, India would certainly be smart to keep their biggest adversary, China, weak both economically and militarily.

[-] Mirshe@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

While this is true, you have to think on diplomatic terms too. The number of countries that will actually deal with us long-term is rapidly falling because President Sundown might wake up tomorrow and decide to tear up your trade deal or defense agreement or whatever. I can definitely see India saying "no" purely because of that.

[-] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

As much as the orange asshole is burning bridges, trusting China or Russia with no deterrent is the apex of stupidity.

Idk how many times they need to expand their border before people realize they want to kill everyone and take everyone's land.

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 32 points 4 weeks ago

I don't know enough about this topic to have a useful opinion on it, but I love the thought the the US Military has limits and may not be able to make war indefinitely in the way that Donald intends to do in Iran.

[-] DiarrheaSommelier@lemmy.ca 25 points 4 weeks ago

As a Canadian, I'm glad they're running out of ammo before they turn north.

[-] skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 15 points 4 weeks ago

Canada has the opportunity to do something very funny

[-] Butterphinger@lemmy.zip 4 points 4 weeks ago

America's enemies: out of what, now? Can you say that a little louder?

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 8 points 4 weeks ago

oh oh oh. Oh your straights of hormuz. Its so tight. I can't help myself. oh. oh. oh. oof. ah. oh. man I can't believe I came that much. I don't have a drop left in me.

this post was submitted on 02 May 2026

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