Long before China starved the Pentagon of raw materials, Wall Street was looting it — Kevin Walmsley

 

https://youtu.be/2-gUC0z-VFo?si=3Si7MtPxTmPHzxM3

Inside China Business - 14 nov 2025

China's export bans on rare earth metals and magnets are crippling Western arms makers.

But while the Pentagon is racing to find new supplies and jump-start the decades-long process of replacing China in their supply chains, their biggest contractors have been sending most of their profits and cash to Wall Street investors.

Order backlogs today are hundreds of billions of dollars, for each of the major weapons makers. The Pentagon, along with NATO and other friendly countries, are waiting years for new systems already ordered and paid for.

Rather than re-invest necessary capital to build out manufacturing capacity, train and retrain top technicians, and fund new suppliers, companies spent tens of billions of dollars buying back their own shares, to push stock prices higher.

(Closing scene, Miao Village, Guizhou)

Resources and links:

GAO, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: Actions Needed to Address Late Deliveries and Improve Future Development

https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-1...

America Doesn’t Have Enough Weapons for a Major Conflict. These Workers Know Why.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazin...

EPA, Lean manufacturing at Lockheed Martin

https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov...

Due to the war in Ukraine, the U.S. informed Switzerland of delays in the delivery of new Patriot air defense systems

https://www.zona-militar.com/en/2025/...

F-35 stealth fighter deliveries have been falling farther and farther behind, watchdog finds

https://www.businessinsider.com/f-35-...

RTX Board of Directors Increases Quarterly Cash Dividend

https://raytheon.mediaroom.com/2024-0...

Raytheon Form 8-K, share buyback announcement

https://investors.rtx.com/static-file...

Forbes, America’s Carriers Rely on Chinese Chips, Our Depleted Munitions Too

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erictegl...

Panic and production cuts at Pentagon suppliers as China tightens exports

• Panic and production cuts at Pentagon supp...

China's new export ban on tungsten shocks defense contractors as Pentagon races to find new supply

• China's new export ban on tungsten shocks ...

Chinese factories build fire trucks for $400,000 in six weeks. In the US it's $2 million in 4 years

• Chinese factories build fire trucks for $4...

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