Highlights
- The USAF's F-47 NGAD and competing sixth-generation fighters from China (J-36, J-50), Russia (PAK DP), and allies (GCAP) rely on hundreds of pounds of rare-earth magnets per aircraft for actuators, sensors, radars, and weapons, making rare earths a geopolitical linchpin for air dominance.
- China controls 99% of dysprosium and terbium refining and imposed strict export licenses in April 2025, causing magnet shipments to crash 74% and creating a critical bottleneck that could delay U.S. fighter production and undermine defense readiness.
- The U.S. is rebuilding its rare-earth supply chain with over $1.4 billion in federal investments, including $550 million to MP Materials to expand magnet capacity from 3,000 to 10,000 tonnes/year by 2028, plus support for ReElement, Vulcan Elements, and other domestic producers to break China's stranglehold.
The next wave of fighter aircraft – the USAF’s Boeing F-47 NGAD (opens in a new tab) and the USN’s carrier-based F/A-XX (opens in a new tab) – are cutting-edge sixth‑generation jets integrating stealth, AI-enabled drone wingmen, and advanced engines. As cited in Defense News (opens in a new tab), the F-47 (NGAD) is in development to replace the F-22, with its first test flight slated for 2028. In Sept. 2025, the Air Force reported the first F-47 “now being built” and confirmed a 2028 maiden flight; about 185 planes are planned. These “family of systems” fighters leverage active electronically scanned radars, high‑power lasers, exotic engines, and integrated sensors networking with drones and satellites.
Importantly, as reported in National Security Journal (opens in a new tab), competing programs are in play worldwide: China has already flown prototypes of two 6th-gen designs (the Chengdu J‑36 and Shenyang J‑50) in late 2024 as it races to match U.S. air dominance; Russia is developing the PAK DP (MiG‑31 successor); and the UK/Italy/Japan GCAP (Tempest) multinational jet is aimed at a mid‑2030s fielding as cited (opens in a new tab) by the UK Parliament. All these platforms rely heavily on permanent-magnet motors, sensors, and power systems – meaning rare‑earth magnets are at their core.
Table of Contents
Rare-Earth Magnets in Advanced Fighters
Rare Earth Exchanges™ (REEx) chronicled how sixth-gen fighters use hundreds of high-performance magnets in electric actuators, generators, pumps, radar/electronic-warfare arrays and weapon subsystems. For example, NdFeB (neodymium‑iron‑boron) magnets drive the F-47’s flight-control actuators, starter-generators and gimbaled sensors. Critical rare earths include:
| Element | Summary |
|---|---|
| Neodymium (Nd) & Praseodymium (Pr) | Light rare earths alloyed into Nd–Fe–B magnets, prized for strength and high-temperature retention. These magnets power jet control surfaces, motors, and generators. Without Nd/Pr magnets, systems like electrical pumps and steering actuators would be far weaker. |
| Dysprosium (Dy) & Terbium (Tb) | Heavy rare earths added to Nd–Fe–B magnets for heat resistance. Jets reach very high temperatures (engine bays, missile fins, directed‑energy weapons), so Dy/Tb are essential to keep magnets magnetized under heat. (For example, terbium-doped magnets are used across aircraft and missiles for stability under stress. |
| Yttrium (Y) | Used in advanced avionics and lasers. Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) filters and Nd:YAG crystals (a neodymium-yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser) underpin radars and targeting lasers. Yttrium is also added to turbine alloys and ceramic coatings for high-temperature resilience. |
In sum as Rare Earth Exchanges has reported, each jet is a flying periodic table. The F-35 (5th‑gen) contains on the order of 900+ pounds of rare earths (about 420 kg) per aircraft, including ~50 lbs of Sm–Co magnets. The even more advanced F-47 will likely match or exceed that. (Rare Earth Exchanges noted that the F-47 “will likely be in the same ballpark” as the F-35’s ~920 lbs of REEs.) Multiplied by hundreds of airframes (Allvin said at least 185 F-47s are planned), the total rare-earth content runs into tens of metric tons of Nd/Pr/Dy/Tb alone, not counting spares and upgrades.
A Global Rare‑Earth Bottleneck
This heavy reliance comes at a perilous time. The U.S. currently meets over 95% of its rare earth needs through imports (mostly China), with defense magnets alone roughly 3,000–4,000 tonnes per year across all services. (DoD analysts project that specialized magnet demand could rise to ~10,000 t/yr by 2030 as new ships, bombers, and drones enter service.) Thus, America’s next-gen fighters are on a critical mineral needle; production delays or export shocks could grind them to a halt.
In April 2025, Beijing introduced strict export licenses on seven rare earths, including Dy, Tb, Sm, and Y. Those heavy REEs are “indispensable for defense and green-energy technologies”. Almost immediately, China’s exports of magnets and compounds crashed (magnet shipments fell ~74% year-on-year in May). Since China refines roughly 99% of the world’s dysprosium and terbium, it can wield this choke point at will. Indeed, Chinese analysts freely admit the licensing is meant as “trade-war countermeasures” – a calibrated pressure tool on U.S. defense supply chains.
Chatham House warns the impact is direct: dysprosium is essential to heat-proof electric motors, while yttrium underpins jet engines, precision lasers, and high-frequency radar—giving China a powerful leverage point over U.S. airpower.
Dysprosium, for instance, is needed to heat-proof the motors in F-35s (and would be likewise essential for the F-47’s engines and AI-driven drones). Yttrium is “essential for jet engines, precision lasers, and high-frequency radar”. By holding the heavy rare-earth keys, China could thus throttle components for America’s stealth fighters – exactly as the Chatham House analysis warns: restricting REEs “could do serious damage to the U.S. defense industry” and undermine the Trump administration’s reindustrialization drive.
Other nations face similar pressures. Russia has little home-based rare-earth processing (it relies on China for some), so its PAK DP is also at risk of shortages. China itself is mass-producing rare earth magnets and alloy factories to feed the J-36/J-50 programs unimpeded. Even allied programs like GCAP (Tempest) must secure supplies against geopolitical risk. In short, heavy-REE magnets are now a geopolitical linchpin for air superiority.
U.S. Supply Chain Rebuild
In response, the U.S. is aggressively rebuilding its rare-earth-to-magnet pipeline. In 2025, the Trump administration leaned into industrial policy: a new executive order (EO 14241) declared critical minerals and permanent magnets vital to national defense, unlocking Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III funding. Congress amended the NDAA to prioritize domestic processing and “Buy America” sourcing for critical minerals. Defense Secretary Hegseth (under Trump) and allies invested directly in producers: most notably, DoD agreed in mid-2025 to pour about $550 million into MP Materials (opens in a new tab) (Mountain Pass, CA).
This deal ($400M equity + $150M loan) funds a “10X” expansion of magnet manufacturing, pushing U.S. Nd/Pr magnet capacity from 3,000 to ~10,000 t/yr by 2028. The Army and Treasury also granted MP a decade of price-floor and off-take commitments to stabilize the market. Crucially, DoD obtained warrants for up to a 15% stake in MP Materials, poised to make it the company’s largest shareholder. MP’s CEO calls this a “decisive action (opens in a new tab) by the Trump administration to accelerate American supply chain independence”.
Other initiatives are advancing unevenly. USA Rare Earth is constructing a 5,000-ton-per-year neodymium magnet plant in Oklahoma, scheduled to come online in 2026 with partial Department of Defense support. By contrast, Lynas Rare Earths’ planned Texas processing facility has stalled and faces growing uncertainty. The company has publicly acknowledged it may not proceed under current conditions, citing prolonged difficulty securing commercially viable DoD offtake agreements, unresolved wastewater permitting issues, and comparatively weaker federal support than competitors such as MP Materials. With negotiations dragging, Lynas has increasingly shifted capital and attention back to its Malaysian expansion, leaving the Texas project’s future unresolved.
Meanwhile, 2025 defense budgets—shaped by Trump administration directives—allocate hundreds of millions of dollars toward domestic mining, separation, and magnet manufacturing capacity. Recycling and alternative refining pathways are also being prioritized.ReElement Technologies secured an $80 million loan from the DoD’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), aligning with Vulcan Elements, which has received $620 million in direct DoD financing and an additional $50 million in Commerce Department equity and incentives.
Together, these commitments exceed $670 million in federal support and form part of a broader $1.4 billion public-private effort to establish a major U.S.-based rare-earth magnet production platform.
Magnet makers such as Permag are already supplying a substantial number of rare-earth-related magnets to the defense sector. Other magnet makers in operation include Arnold Magnetic Technologies and Noveon Magnetics. And Germany’s Vacuumschmelze also now has a plant in South Carolina.
REEx Final Thoughts
The race for sixth-generation air dominance is as much a contest over the periodic table as the skies. The F-47 and its counterparts embody extreme high-tech that cannot operate without the right magnets. As REEx warned, “hidden beneath the F-47’s radar-evading skin…are critical rare earth elements…much of [which] are sourced from a supply chain through China”. Securing that chain is therefore mission-critical.
If, illustratively, 200 future fighters each require ~450 kg of Nd/Pr/Tb/Dy, that’s ~90 tonnes of rare earths just for initial builds – plus spares. A few months’ delay in magnet availability could cascade into program slippages or capability gaps.
The U.S. moves (stockpiling, domestic build-out, tariffs) are aimed at preventing exactly that scenario. In this high-stakes game, neglecting the rare-earth pipeline is no longer an option. Ensuring a robust U.S. magnet supply (via various government financing tools and new producers) is now as vital to air supremacy as engines or stealth. As one Pentagon analysis, cited by REEx, concludes, the rare-earth crunch represents a broader national security dilemma that must be solved if tomorrow’s fighters are to ever leave the ground.
© 2025 Rare Earth Exchanges™ – Accelerating Transparency, Accuracy, and Insight Across the Rare Earth & Critical Minerals Supply Chain.
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