Rare Earth Elements (REE)

[Tommy]

Rare Earths Vital to the Defense Sector

http://proedgewire.com/rare-earth-intel/rare-earths-so-vital-to-the-defense-sector-as-to-provoke-a-ceasefire/

Rare earths are relatively abundant in the earth’s crust but they are made ‘rare’ because of the complex post extraction processing, separation and purification of these minerals. The real value of these elements is in the downstream end of the business as finished and semi-finished products, sold as oxides, carbonates, fluorides, borides, or pure and alloy metal forms. These semi-finished materials are then used to manufacture a variety of ‘high-tech’ products. The rare earths also earn their ‘rare’ designation because with very few exceptions they are irreplaceable, which explains why technologically advanced societies have become so dependent on rare earths in the past decade. Despite the recent bearish speculation, the fact remains that the rare earth market has grown to an estimated 5 to 10 billion dollars; it was worth 500 million dollars in 2003. Our dependence and the variety of their applications (rare earths are responsible for the miniaturization trend that allows for such items as smart phones, lighter batteries and more powerful electric motors possible) have turned rare earths into strategic materials; nowhere is this more evident than in the defense sector.

Rare earths are present on supersonic military aircraft, missiles, satellites, radar, sonar, telecommunications systems. Specifically rare earths are used in such individual components as transducers, sensors, phosphors and electronic controls, among others, that allow the hardware to perform strategic tasks. Rare earths are also used in structural items such as gas turbines blades and protective coatings (coatings against corrosion, erosion, heat shields), in optical systems. Yttrium is particularly important in applications in the metallurgical sector (protective coatings and thermal barriers), for the manufacture of phosphors and for applications in the field of defense. The brewing dispute between China and the West (including Japan) has only served to stress the importance of rare earths in military technology.

The US Government has called for the creation of a rare-earth stockpile along the lines of the strategic petroleum reserves to ensure a stable source for these materials. Rare earth values have not responded with the kind of urgency expressed at the level of the Pentagon, as they have been suffering under the weight of a jittery market and under most analysts’ generally perfunctory understanding of just how crucial rare earths are to modern weapon systems. A general list was presented above, but viewed from a wider strategic horizon; rare earths have acquired a veritable geopolitical importance.

This is because rare earths are essential in putting the ‘precision’ in precision guided munitions including precision guided missiles such as those used to intercept incoming enemy projectiles and rockets. Such platforms as Raytheon’s Patriot missile notoriously used with relative success during the first Gulf War in 1991 and the even more effective Israeli made ‘Iron Dome’ defense system rely on such rare earth elements as Dysprosium, Neodymium, Praseodymium, Samarium and Terbium, which allow for their electronic and dynamic guidance. Fins on the rockets move thanks to actuators controlled by samarium-cobalt magnets. Combinations of heat sensors, computers and rare earth magnet equipped motors work together to control the flight path of Tomahawk or Stinger missiles. The range and precision targeting is then performed by the Europium, Neodymium and Terbium which power lasers. Meanwhile, Gadolinium, Samarium, and Yttrium are used in radars and sonar governing air traffic and surveillance. The Patriot air defense missile uses these materials to moderate the electronic signal flow. Dysprosium, Erbium, Europium, Praseodymium and Yttrium can be used to vastly improve satellite communications; enabling fiber optic devices transfer huge amounts of data. Modern warfare relies on visual systems and rare earths are used in all kinds of high definition video panels, including instruments such as avionics, and ‘visual enhancement’ equipment.

Whereas, solid fuel was the strategic asset of rocket based weapons (such as the German V1 and V2 rockets) from World War II to the 1970’s; today, rockets are no longer sufficient. Surely, rockets and boosters are needed to generate the power needed to break out of the atmosphere, but space travel to other planets is fueled by rare earth magnets, the very same at the heart of ion engines. Magnets based on samarium cobalt (SmCo), first tested in October 1998 in NASA’s Deep Space 1, and are used in ion engines propelling planetary probes through distances in outer space. Moreover, while ballistic missiles had some form of limited radio guidance, it was impossible to guide them directly to the desired target. So-called ‘smart-bombs’ are made ‘smart’ by the rare earth elements used in their guidance systems.

It is the very precision of modern rocket weapon platforms that is generating a new kind of geopolitical power. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system is a recent and fresh example. The system has been so effective at destroying incoming Fajr and Qassam rockets from Gaza in the recent confrontation between Israel and Hamas that it has directly contributed to an official ceasefire. Iron Dome blocked most of Hamas’s rockets aimed at Israeli targets, minimizing casualties and denying Hamas any victories to present before its constituents, obliterating any political or military advantages that Hamas might have gained otherwise. In 2006, when Iron Dome was not available, Hezbollah was able to score some victories and build support during a one month long war with Israel. Hezbollah was able to translate the military points into political strength, emerging as the dominant political force in the country.

Hamas and other groups in Gaza have presumably tried to achieve the same results; however the Iron Dome has blocked their strategy, forcing their hand into a ceasefire and making it less necessary – from Israel’s perspective – to launch a full scale ground invasion in Gaza during a very delicate period in the Arab World, undergoing profound political changes and not necessarily democratic ones. Iron Dome has also emboldened Israel vis-à-vis a possible confrontation with Iran, showing that Israel could be capable of defending itself against multiple rocket attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah, should they intervene in conjunction with an – highly improbable – Iranian attack. The Iron Dome system relies on complex guidance and detection systems managed by computers, featuring a variety of rare earths. The Iron Dome rocket defense system, more successful than the Patriot system (designed more than twenty years earlier with less effective systems and slower computers) has reduced the ability of non state players, rogue elements and random terrorists to carry out effective attacks against populated areas, buttressing the role of more diplomatic and political strategies in conflict resolution.