The U.S. Navy’s Subsea Rare Earth Vulnerability
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
The Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine is the next generation of American nuclear deterrence. Twelve of these boats will replace the aging Ohio-class fleet, entering service over the 2030s and 2040s, each carrying 16 Trident IIs and driven by a ghost-quiet electric motor that renders them acoustically invisible to any adversary. What makes all of that possible — the propulsion, the stealth, the strike precision — depends almost entirely on rare earths refined in China. This is perhaps the Navy’s most consequential and least discussed vulnerability.The dependency runs through every layer of the capability stack. The sub’s permanent magnet motor requires The post The U.S. Navy’s Subsea Rare Earth Vulnerability appeared first on War on the Rocks.