A single drone motor contains between 12 and 60 magnets made from rare-earth metals — and drones have as many as eight motors.
A nuclear submarine has more than 9,000 pounds of rare-earth materials. An F-35 jet fighter has about 900 pounds, according to Defense Department data.
And about 90 percent of the global supply of finished rare earths come from the adversary the Pentagon is preparing to fight in the future: China.
The US dependence on rare-earth minerals, for autos and data centers as well as defense equipment, was exposed as a key vulnerability when Beijing cut off ...