"Two young companies are slated to build thousands of disposable drones to protect the Baltic states. A third candidate is expected to join the bid. How do these people get the rare earths for these drones from China that does not provide rare earths for Western arm production?"
Helsing’s HX-2 drones, produced in Germany for Ukraine and NATO partners, are designed to circumvent traditional, heavily constrained defense supply chains, including dependence on Chinese rare earth materials. To achieve mass production of 6,000+ units, Helsing is utilizing the following strategies to secure materials:
Strategic Partnerships with Auto Suppliers: Helsing has collaborated with German automotive supplier Schaeffler to handle procurement, manufacturing, and the establishment of resilient supply chains for electronic components, semiconductors, and raw materials.
Are these Germans stealing the materials for drone motor from China using fake German automotive supplier’s Schaeffler account? The scheme is so primitive, you don’t need AIfrom Helsing to understand it: German automotive supplier Schaeffler buys Chinese rare earths for the civil cars and sells them to Helsing for military drones.
Rest of the activity is more hidden. The West does not have rare earth technologies, and will not have at least for 5 more years. These technologies are too complicated. So poetry is used to cover this fact:
European "Resilience Factories": Rather than relying on imported, finished, high-end components from a single source, Helsing has established "Resilience Factories" in Germany (and planned for elsewhere in Europe). These facilities are designed for local, sovereign production, using European-sourced materials where possible.
Design for Substitution: The HX-2 is designed for high-volume, cost-efficient production, implying the use of readily available components rather than specialized, rare-earth-intensive military hardware. The hardware complexity is deliberately reduced, with capabilities added via AI software rather than rare hardware components.
Focus on Local/Allied Supply Chains: The initiative is designed to ensure sovereignty, using European suppliers for materials and electronics to avoid the vulnerabilities associated with Chinese export controls on rare earth elements.
While the drone industry is globally dependent on China for rare earths and battery materials (lithium, graphite), these "Resilience Factories" and partnerships with industrial, non-defense companies like Schaeffler are designed specifically to bypass these bottlenecks.
Nothing rare here, folks. "Resilience Factories" is very poetic and very common way to do things. Written by AI for sure.
Last time German used secrecy to arm themselves ended badly for many Americans, and Europeans, including Germans themselves. Was tank army for Hitler developed surreptitiously, hidden from the winners of WWI?
Yes, the German tank army (Panzerwaffe) developed by Hitler was built on a foundation of covert research and development that began in the 1920s, during the Weimar Republic, in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles imposed by the winners of World War I. While the Allies intended to demilitarize Germany, the German military ("Reichswehr") and industrial sector secretly continued to design, test, and develop armored vehicles and tank tactics.
Key details of this surreptitious development include:
Secret Soviet Collaboration: The most critical partnership was with the Soviet Union, not the Western Allies. Following the 1922 Treaty of Rapallo, Germany and the USSR established secret testing grounds, most notably the Kama tank school near Kazan, Russia. German officers and engineers developed and tested prototypes there away from Allied inspectors.
"Agricultural Machinery" Disguise: To evade the Versailles restrictions (which prohibited tank production), German companies like Rheinmetall and Krupp built prototypes under aliases such as Großtraktor ("large tractor") and Leichttraktor ("light tractor").
Key Figures: Heinz Guderian, the future pioneer of German armored forces, was instrumental in developing the strategy, studying British and other foreign theories, and training crews on rudimentary "dummy" tanks before true tanks were produced.
Transition to Nazi Rule: When Hitler came to power in 1933, he immediately accelerated these covert projects, abandoning secrecy by 1935. The initial German tanks, Panzer I and II, were designed during this secret phase and later mass-produced.
Influence of WWI Winners: While the technology was developed secretly, German designers heavily analyzed and learned from the armored vehicles of their former enemies, such as British tanks. The Panzer I, for instance, was heavily influenced by British Carden Loyd tankettes.
In summary, Germany did not openly receive help from WWI winners; rather, they used their own expertise, secret partnerships with the Soviet Union, and foreign technology acquisitions to circumvent the restrictions imposed by the Allied winners.
Let’s hope, that Trump and Chinese will stop this surreptitious madness of Germans this time.
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