Macdonald Amoah, Morgan Bazilian, Jahara Matisek, and Katrina Schweiker
Every drone involved in the war in Ukraine depends on China. From palm-sized quadcopters guiding artillery to long-range loitering munitions, nearly every unmanned system on both sides contains materials and components that originate in Chinese factories and refineries. Carbon fiber, rare-earth magnets, lithium-ion cells, and gallium-nitride chips are critical nodes in the Chinese supply chain underpinning the architecture of modern drone warfare.
Most policymakers and military leaders tend to focus on higher-order hardware and software, from airframes to autonomy, AI, and ethics, but miss the underlying chemistry and metallurgy. The ability to sustain mass production of drones requires access to specialized composites, alloys, and semiconductors. In this sense, supply chain competition translates into a geopolitical battle for the raw materials needed to employ drones at scale.
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