‘On par with what the DoD pursued during the Cold War’: Pentagon’s war stockpile plan hits a minerals wall

The Pentagon plans to stockpile critical minerals, fuel, and munitions within the United States to maintain military operations during a major conflict, even if domestic infrastructure is disrupted. This initiative, called FORTRESS America, aims to keep U.S. forces functional if power grids and manufacturing supply chains are compromised.

Defense expert Bryan Clark describes the scale of the effort as "on par with what the DoD pursued during the Cold War." However, the primary challenge lies in securing the necessary raw materials. The U.S. produces less than 1% of the common type of rare-earth magnet it uses, with China dominating the processing of many critical minerals and restricting exports even during peacetime.

FORTRESS focuses on domestic reserves rather than overseas stockpiles, reflecting concerns that American factories could become targets of cyberattacks, drones, electromagnetic warfare, or internal sabotage, as highlighted by China. Despite the Pentagon's efforts, the defense industry still heavily relies on foreign supply chains for raw materials, with the U.S. importing billions of dollars worth of critical minerals.

The shortage of rare-earth magnets is particularly acute, with U.S. demand exceeding domestic supply by a significant margin. Building reserves requires not only financial investment but also the development of domestic mining and processing capacity, which may take time to materialize.