Gallium: Why the US Cannot Produce Precision Missiles and Fully-Functional F-35s
The United States faces a critical dependency on China for gallium, a material essential for producing precision missiles and F-35 fighter jets. China's control over the global supply chain has created a strategic vulnerability for the US military.
Why it matters
The reliance on foreign adversaries for critical defense materials poses a significant national security risk and highlights the fragility of global supply chains.
3 August 2026 by Larry C. Johnson 208 Comments
Kudos, again, to Kevin Wamsley of Inside China Business. Based on his latest podcast (see below) I did some additional digging. The substance of his video briefing is shocking and alarming, at least for US policymakers and weapons manufacturers. There is a single thread running from the empty nose cones of America’s newest stealth fighters to the laboratories where China is building the internet of the 2030s. That thread is gallium — a soft, silvery byproduct of aluminum refining that almost no one outside a materials-science department thinks about, and that the United States does not produce at all.
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