Defense Rush to Secure Samarium Supply

The defense sector is racing to build non-China supply chains for samarium, a little-known rare earth element critical to modern weapons systems.

The U.S. Geological Survey recently identified samarium as the most vulnerable critical mineral, citing constrained sources and China’s export controls. Unlike more widely used rare earths, samarium’s market is small and heavily concentrated in military applications, leaving limited commercial incentives for new investment.

Samarium is a key component of high-performance samarium–cobalt permanent magnets, valued for stability at elevated temperatures and resistance to demagnetization. Those properties make it important for precision guidance, actuators, motors and sensors in platforms such as fighter jets and cruise missiles.

Defense contractors, the Department of Defense and supply-chain partners are pursuing a mix of responses: diversifying mining and processing away from China, investing in domestic refining, recycling existing components, exploring substitute materials and increasing strategic stockpiles. Securing a reliable samarium pipeline is now seen as essential to sustain readiness for advanced military systems.