By By Karen Graham Dec 20, 2019 in Politics The U.S. military plans to stockpile rare earth magnets used in Javelin missiles and F-35 fighter jets, a step that critics say does little to help create a domestic industry to build specialized magnets now made almost exclusively in Asia. The magnets are essential to the manufacturing of military weapons, according to the document that details the Trump administration's latest attempt to weaken China's control over the rare earth minerals sector. This latest move by the military is in line with F-35A off the coast of Northwest Florida U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen The Pentagon's request is calling for someone to warehouse a six-month supply of the specialized magnets and maintain it for at least 30 months. The proposal does not offer any financial support for NdFeB magnet manufacturing, which to many critics is a mistake on the government's part. “This is definitely a curveball,” said Peter Afiuny of Urban Mining Co, a privately held company building a rare earth magnet facility near Austin, Texas. “We expected the call would be strategically aimed at actually doing something to spur domestic production capacity.” Domestic production of NdFeB magnets A neodymium magnet - or as it is sometimes called, a Neo magnet - is the most widely-used type of rare-earth magnet. It is a permanent magnet made from an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron to form the Most hard disk drives incorporate strong magnets. Rjt at the Wikipedia project The neo magnet is the strongest magnet commercially available in the world today. And with variations in the manufacturing process, they are also divided into two subcategories, namely sintered NdFeB magnets and bonded NdFeB magnets. There are The magnets are used in many applications in modern products that require strong permanent magnets, such as motors in cordless tools, hard disk drives, magnetic fasteners, fighter jets, and military weaponry. Neo magnets are also used in some wind turbines and it has been argued that neodymium will be one of the main objects of geopolitical competition in a world running on renewable energy. General Motors and Osaka, Japan-based Sumitomo Special Metals independently discovered the Nd2Fe14B compound almost simultaneously in 1984. GM focused on the development of According to a government document seen by Reuters , the Pentagon is seeking proposals to stockpile a six-month, rotating supply of neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) magnets.The magnets are essential to the manufacturing of military weapons, according to the document that details the Trump administration's latest attempt to weaken China's control over the rare earth minerals sector.This latest move by the military is in line with the U.S. Army plans earlier this month to fund construction of rare earth processing facilities, also according to documents seen by Reuters. In this case, the plan was put down to acquiring a domestic supply of minerals.The Pentagon's request is calling for someone to warehouse a six-month supply of the specialized magnets and maintain it for at least 30 months. The proposal does not offer any financial support for NdFeB magnet manufacturing, which to many critics is a mistake on the government's part.“This is definitely a curveball,” said Peter Afiuny of Urban Mining Co, a privately held company building a rare earth magnet facility near Austin, Texas. “We expected the call would be strategically aimed at actually doing something to spur domestic production capacity.”A neodymium magnet - or as it is sometimes called, a Neo magnet - is the most widely-used type of rare-earth magnet. It is a permanent magnet made from an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron to form the Nd2Fe14B tetragonal crystalline structure. The neo magnet is the strongest magnet commercially available in the world today. And with variations in the manufacturing process, they are also divided into two subcategories, namely sintered NdFeB magnets and bonded NdFeB magnets. There are two manufacturing methods - the classical powder metallurgy or sintered magnet process and - the rapid solidification or bonded magnet process.The magnets are used in many applications in modern products that require strong permanent magnets, such as motors in cordless tools, hard disk drives, magnetic fasteners, fighter jets, and military weaponry. Neo magnets are also used in some wind turbines and it has been argued that neodymium will be one of the main objects of geopolitical competition in a world running on renewable energy.General Motors and Osaka, Japan-based Sumitomo Special Metals independently discovered the Nd2Fe14B compound almost simultaneously in 1984. GM focused on the development of melt-spun nanocrystalline Nd2Fe14B magnets, while Sumitomo developed full-density sintered Nd2Fe14B magnets. NASDAQ is reporting that the Pentagon plans to spend $10 million on the program, with recipients funding another $10 million in total. Each recipient will receive a maximum of $3 million, according to the document. More about Pentagon, rare earth magnets, neodymium iron boron, Stockpile, military weapons Pentagon rare earth magnets neodymium iron boron Stockpile military weapons