Aerospace & Defense

Another Attempt to Produce Rare-Earth Minerals in the U.S.

Trump Moves to Expand Rare Earths Mining, Cites China Threat

October 1, 2020

President Trump signed an executive order aimed at expanding domestic production of rare-earth minerals vital to most manufacturing sectors and reducing dependence on China.

Amazon’s Fleet of Used Airplanes Makes Green Pledge Harder to Keep

September 25, 2020

Bloomberg

Airlines say their newer generation jets are 20% more fuel efficient than the models they’re phasing out, many of which end up in the fleets of cargo carriers.

Airbus Unveils Hydrogen Designs for Zero-Emission Flight

September 23, 2020

Bloomberg

The European planemaker unveiled three designs it’s studying to build hydrogen-powered aircraft as it races to bring a zero-carbon passenger plane into service by 2035.

FedEx Seeks to Add Small Self-Flying Planes for Remote Areas

September 22, 2020

Bloomberg

FedEx Corp. is looking at using small self-flying cargo planes to serve remote areas after experimenting with a technology startup on autonomous aircraft.

Jet Fuel Is Now So Cheap It’s Being Blended for Use by Ships

September 21, 2020

Bloomberg

The fuel that powers passenger planes is normally among the most expensive oil products, but in a sign of the times the coronavirus has turned it into a blending component for typically cheaper shipping fuel.

Lawmakers Seek to Curb U.S. Reliance on China for Rare Earths

September 2, 2020

Bloomberg

U.S. House lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at reducing dependence on China for rare earths used in everything from electric vehicles to missiles to wind turbines.

Why the U.S. Can’t Break China’s Monopoly on Rare Earth Metals — Part 3

August 7, 2020

Shubho Chatterjee, SCB Contributor

These are the necessary steps toward developing a research-and-development partnership among the private sector, government and academia to wrest control of the REE supply chain from China.

EDITOR'S Q&A

A U.S. Company Seeks to Reduce China’s Dominance in Rare Earth Production

July 28, 2020

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

Efforts are underway in the U.S. to break China’s monopoly on the mining and processing of rare earth minerals, which are found in many high-tech products for consumer, industrial and military use. But it’s going to be a long haul to achieve that goal.

Why the U.S. Can’t Break China’s Monopoly on Rare Earth Metals — Part 2

July 20, 2020

Shubho Chatterjee, SCB Contributor

It's unrealistic to believe the U.S. can break China’s monopoly over the rare earth element market through private investment and the opening of new domestic mines.

Why the U.S. Can’t Break China’s Monopoly on Rare Earth Metals

July 7, 2020

Shubho Chatterjee, SCB Contributor

The global pandemic has exposed the utter dependence of the U.S. and the world on China for critical equipment and raw materials.

Aerospace & Defense

The latest supply-chain news, analysis, trends and tools for executives in the aerospace and defense industry. Learn how aerospace and defense companies and their suppliers around the world are managing the flow of products across all channels of the enterprise. Experts sound off on forecasting and demand planning, supply-chain visibility, logistics outsourcing, inventory optimization, transportation management, warehouse management, supply-chain security, corporate social responsibility and more.