U.S. Drone Ambitions Meet China Rare Earth Leverage
China said it would address some U.S. concerns over rare-earth export controls but defended its curbs as legal, offering no rollback. The Pentagon’s Drone Dominance program has ordered 30,000 attack drones and plans to buy over 200,000 by 2027, but supply chains remain vulnerable. China controls nearly all rare-earth refining and magnet manufacturing, raising concerns for U.S. defense production.
