Author: Michael

There’s a clear consensus that America hollowed out its critical minerals base. How to rebuild it is less settled. Alex Grant of Magrathea Metals and Wes Spurlock of Principal Mineral join Jonathan to discuss the processing technology, labor force, and how government can catalyze private capital investment in the sector rather than replace it.Image: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission via Wikimedia Commons.
The post Rebuilding America’s Critical Minerals Base appeared first on War on the Rocks.

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Editorial Note: The dates cited in Eugene Politovsky’s account are from the old Russian Orthodox calendar, which is 13 days behind that of the (Gregorian) calendar system used in this article.A recent War on the Rocks article on the failure of the Spanish Reserve Fleet to prepare for war with the United States in 1898 offers a useful point of entry into what may be the most significant issue of poor fleet readiness ahead of a major battle.

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Germany and France have significantly scaled back their long-running Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) program, abandoning the original vision of jointly developing a common next generation main battle tank. The decision marks another major setback for European defence integration, following the recent collapse of the Franco-German-led Future Combat Air System (FCAS) fighter program in June, and raises further questions regarding Europe’s ability to deliver large multinational defence projects.

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces have deployed at least one Chinese-supplied FK-2000 medium range defence system for operations in Bahrain, as the island country has been subjected to intensified Iranian missile and drone strikes. FK-2000 systems were previously thought to have been procured to equip the Rapid Support Force mercenary organisation currently at war with the Sudanese government, and were not know to be operational in the Gulf region.

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The United States’ largest defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin has unveiled the PAC-3 Adapted Capability Effector (ACE), a new interceptor for the MIM-104 Patriot long range air defence system designed to dramatically reduce the cost of ballistic missile defence. The new missile is expected to cost approximately $2.5 million per interceptor, roughly half the estimated $5 million price of the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) variant currently in production.

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