Between 60% and 75% of the world’s supply of finished rare earth magnets is also produced in Chinese factories. Each F-35 jet contains 417kg of rare earth elements, of which between 90% and 95% of the world’s supply is sourced from China.
Its jet engines are coated with yttrium-enhanced ceramic to achieve supersonic speeds, and it requires powerful magnets made from neodymium for its weapons systems to function.
Ĭhiefly, the F-35 relies on rare earth elements, or REEs, to operate. It is darkly ironic then that, like the global economy more generally, the F-35 itself is dependent on Chinese manufacturing to function. With its complement of new British-made F-35 jets, the Queen Elizabeth will be Britain’s most significant asset for projecting power overseas. Later this year, a Royal Navy carrier group centred on the fleet’s new flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, will leave Portsmouth for the Far East, on a mission to fly the flag in Britain’s new Indo-Pacific area of strategic focus and, we are told, to “confront” China.
