The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - June 25, 2025
The B-2 Spirit, named to reflect the invisible strength and unity of U.S. airpower, embodies both stealth and state pride – with each aircraft carrying the name of an American state.
Three decades after it first slipped past enemy radar, the B-2 Spirit remains one of the most advanced – and elusive – aircraft ever built. But while its silhouette has not changed, the battlefield beneath it has. Today, the stealth bomber gains its edge not just from design, but from an array of critical minerals pulled from a tightening global supply chain.
On June 21, a formation of B-2 Spirits took to the skies under Operation Midnight Hammer, executing what the Pentagon later described as "a deliberate, precise" strike against Iran's most fortified nuclear sites.
Twelve Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) struck fortified targets at Fordow and Natanz, two underground facilities located in central Iran widely believed to house uranium enrichment centrifuges, and which have been cited in reports by international observers in connection with nuclear activities.
While their operational status at the time of the strike was not publicly disclosed, the long-range sortie – launched from Whiteman Air Force Base and sustained through aerial refueling – demonstrated the reach and payload capacity of the B-2.
Yet beyond its aerodynamic precision lies a more fragile core – one woven from dozens of strategic minerals whose supply remains vulnerable to disruption.
This elemental vulnerability is examined in a recent analysis by Arnoldus van den Hurk of critical minerals consultancy R4mining, whose detailed breakdown of the B-2's composition reveals just how deeply U.S. airpower depends on materials sourced from abroad – many concentrated in a single geopolitical rival.
Originally developed by Northrop Grumman and first flown in 1989, the B-2 was designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses and deliver precision strikes anywhere on the globe.
Its unique flying-wing design not only reduces its radar cross-section but also optimizes lift-to-drag ratio, allowing for long-range missions without the need for frequent refueling.
At the core of its radar invisibility are advanced radar-absorbent coatings applied to its surface. According to van den Hurk's findings, these layers incorporate rare earth elements such as yttrium and samarium, along with ferrite compounds and engineered ceramics specifically formulated to dampen incoming radar signals across a broad spectrum of frequencies.
The skin of the aircraft, made from heat-resistant composite materials, acts like armor –shaping airflow while helping to manage heat and energy across the surface.
Beneath that, a skeletal frame of titanium and aluminum-lithium alloys provides strength without excess weight, while carbon fiber weaves through like connective tissue, reinforcing key components, preserving the B-2's agility under combat conditions, and enabling the extended flight range needed for missions without refueling.
Deeper still, the aircraft's electronic and navigational systems function as its nervous system – transmitting signals, processing inputs, and coordinating mission responses in isolation, as the B-2 cannot receive real-time external commands without compromising its stealth.
These circuits depend on materials vital to semiconductors and photonic components. Van den Hurk identified gallium-based compounds as drivers of radar and communication modules, germanium as powering infrared optics and sensors, and elements like tantalum and indium enabling capacitors and switching devices that regulate electrical flow across guidance and control networks.
Completing this internal architecture, neodymium and dysprosium drive the actuators and control surfaces – functioning like joints and tendons that continuously adjust to aerodynamic forces. While terbium-doped alloys fine-tune this responsiveness, using magnetostrictive (physically changes shape when exposed to magnetic fields) materials to enable silent, high-precision movements essential to maintaining balance, direction, and stealth in flight.
According to van den Hurk's analysis of the aircraft's mineral dependencies, each of these elements is not only critical on its own but calibrated to operate in concert under extreme conditions – heat, pressure, and electromagnetic interference – making the B-2's effectiveness contingent not on any single input, but on the seamless integration of all of them into a system where even minor failure in one part could jeopardize mission success.
From the radar-absorbing yttrium and samarium on its skin to the gallium, germanium, tantalum, indium, and rare earths embedded deeper within, the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is an apex example of what becomes possible when more than 50 rare and strategic minerals and metals are integrated into a single weapons platform.
But retaining technological superiority through next-generation defense systems – from stealth bombers to autonomous drones and hypersonic weapons – reveals a critical vulnerability: nearly all the necessary critical minerals are sourced from geopolitical rivals like China, which now restricts the export of more than a dozen of these essential elements.
As supply chains harden into instruments of statecraft, the same components that enable mission success also expose the fragility of foreign dependence – highlighting the need to secure and stabilize domestic access to these elemental foundations of national defense.
Beneath its American engineering and strategic intent, the B-2 carries a mineral backbone now shaped by foreign control.
While the aircraft embodies the penultimate of current U.S. airpower, the elements that enable its stealth and performance are extracted, processed, or refined overseas – many within jurisdictions now treating these materials as leverage.
Over the last four decades, China has positioned its dominance in dozens of critical minerals into a strategic instrument. Supply chains once considered global commons have become locked chokepoints, controlled via export licensing and bans.
By positioning itself as the top supplier for over 30 critical minerals to the United States – including gallium, germanium, indium, tungsten, tellurium, antimony, and nearly the entire suite of rare earth elements – China now serves as the primary gatekeeper for materials embedded across the B‑2's radar, avionics, and flight control systems.
Since 2023, Beijing has tightened that grip through export bans and licensing restrictions on at least 16 of these elements. Given that more than 50 rare and strategic minerals are required for the B-2's construction alone, the scale of China's leverage is not theoretical – it is already operational.
Of those 16 restricted minerals, 15 are known components of the B-2 – seven critical minerals and eight rare earth elements:
• Gallium – Vital for radar, jamming, and communication systems. The U.S. is 100% import reliant, with China controlling up to 98% of global supply.
• Germanium – Powers infrared optics, thermal imaging, and fiber-optic communication. The U.S. is more than 50% reliant on imports, primarily from China.
• Indium – Enables transparent conductors and semiconductors used in displays and avionics. The U.S. is 100% import reliant; China controls over 60% of global production.
• Tungsten – Used in engine components, armor, and electronic shielding. The U.S. is 100% import reliant; China supplies more than 80% globally.
• Tellurium – Critical to infrared optics and thermoelectric devices. The U.S. has less than 25% import reliance, but China is a leading source.
• Antimony – Reinforces structural and fire-resistant components. The U.S. is 85% import reliant; nearly all synthetic antimony comes from China.
• Graphite – Essential for radar-absorbing materials and structural composites. The U.S. is 100% reliant on imports; China supplies about 79% of global natural graphite and dominates synthetic.
• Neodymium – Drives powerful magnets in actuators and radar systems. The U.S. is more than 95% import reliant, with nearly all processing in China.
• Dysprosium – Stabilizes high-performance magnets exposed to high heat. The U.S. is more than 95% import reliant on Chinese supply.
• Terbium – Enables magnetostrictive actuators for silent, precise flight control. The U.S. is more than 95% reliant on imports, processed almost exclusively in China.
• Yttrium – Used in radar-absorbing coatings and targeting systems. The U.S. is 100% import reliant; nearly all supply comes from China.
• Samarium – Integral to thermal-resistant magnets for guidance and navigation. The U.S. is more than 95% reliant on Chinese processing.
• Praseodymium – Enhances magnet strength for sensors and targeting optics. The U.S. is more than 95% import reliant; China dominates processing.
• Gadolinium – Supports radiation detection and sonar systems. The U.S. is more than 95 % import reliant on Chinese-sourced supply.
• Lutetium – Powers specialized avionics and high-resolution display systems. The U.S. is more than 95% import reliant; China controls processing.
Among the roughly 35 additional minerals and metals required to build and maintain the aircraft, at least nine are also dominated by Chinese production or processing.
In total, nearly half of the B-2's supply chain now hinges on materials controlled by a strategic competitor – a structural exposure that turns material dependency into a tangible national security concern.
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