How the Pentagon Is Buying Rare Earth Magnets Like a Miner

The Pentagon is using a Cold War-era law, the Defense Production Act Title III, to buy rare earth magnets for the F-35 and missile guidance systems. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down how the US military is using the National Defense Stockpile and multi-year purchase agreements to break China's stranglehold on permanent magnets, which are essential for everything from precision-guided munitions to warship propellers. They look at the specific case of MP Materials, which is receiving a $95 million Pentagon contract to refine magnets in California, and the $20 billion the US has lost in GDP annually from rare earth supply chain risk. The hosts debate whether this approach — buying like a industrial miner — can actually work when China controls 90 percent of permanent magnet production. Market data shows defense stocks up 5-9 percent this week, with LMT at 545 and NOC at 549. #RareEarthMagnets #DefenseProductionAct #PentagonProcurement #CriticalMinerals #MPMaterials #F35 #SupplyChainSecurity #NationalDefenseStockpile #PermanentMagnets #ChinaRareEarths #DefenseContracting #IndustrialPolicy #MilitaryTech #Aerospace #Business #Technology #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo