Montana Tech poised to develop tactics to compete with China for critical minerals

The Center for Strategic and International Studies puts it more elegantly, but the gist is this: China’s monopoly on critical minerals and materials allows it to kick butt in the manufacture of weapons.

“China is rapidly expanding its munitions production and acquiring advanced weapons systems and equipment at a pace five to six times faster than the United States,” the center reports.

Rare-earth elements, a subset of critical minerals and materials, play key roles in U.S. defense technologies and are considered crucial for F-35 fighter jets, submarines, Tomahawk missiles, Predator drones and much more. They’re important in hundreds of other applications, including electric vehicles.

The U.S. Department of Energy reports that rare-earth elements “are critical to the stability and growth