The US stockpiles of all alloys necessary for steel alloy and exotic metals production is in serious trouble across the board; chromium, nickel, molydenum, etc. Meanwhile, China has been stockpiling the stuff like a hoarder, while making allies of those countries that mine the ores, not pissing them off. Which country leads the world in manufactured diamond necessary for the tooling to work with exotic metals? China of course.

The barrage of munitions that U.S. forces have fired into Iran have laid bare just how reliant the U.S. war machine is on a powerful metal that you’ve likely never heard of: tungsten.

Bwuah? Tongue's Ten?

I appreciate the editorial decision to acknowledge their readers do not have an elementary-equivalent education