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Successful Strategic Materials Conference Deplores Status of American Metals Industry in Safeguarding National Defense

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 13:27 CDT

CLEVELAND, April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- A broad spectrum of business, government, and academic leaders deplored the vulnerable status of the American metals industry in safeguarding national security at the recent Strategic Materials Conference at Cleveland's InterContinental Hotel.

"With more than 100 in attendance, this inaugural conference exceeded our expectations," said Charles D. Clark, executive director of the Defense Metals Technology Center. "It validates the DMTC mission to represent our domestic metals industry."

Congress in 2007 funded the DMTC as a U.S. Army Center of Excellence to coordinate academic, government, and industrial entities involved with strategic materials. It is headquartered in North Canton, Ohio, which the DMTC calls the center of America's Metals Heartland.

In delivering the opening address, Barbara Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve University, pointed out the importance of academic research and courses in specialty metals to national defense.

Three industry leaders made a compelling argument for an increased focus on defense supply-chain vulnerabilities. They cited a case study on high-performance magnets.

Deploring this precipitous decline of the U.S. magnet industry were Peter C. Dent, Vice President of Business Development, Electron Energy Corporation; Ed Richardson, Sales and Marketing Manager, Thomas & Skinner, Inc.; and John F. Ashburn, Vice President and General Counsel, Molycorp Minerals, LLC.

They explained that over the last decade more than a dozen U.S. magnet producers with 6,000 employees has shrunk to six with 500 employees.

Defense applications of high-performance magnets include guidance and electronic warfare systems, communications, and nuclear reactors. The decreasing domestic capacity to produce magnets, however, is a cause of concern, the panelists observed.

They added that because China dominates in overproduction and price manipulation of rare-earth metals needed in such magnets, the situation has become truly alarming. "Without the ability to manufacture," Dent said, "American companies lose the ability to innovate. Innovation is critical to our economy and a strong military."

A personal observation came in closing remarks from Peter Mansoor, Ph.D., Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired), the Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History at The Ohio State University.

Dr. Mansoor explained the military initially was not prepared to confront the challenge of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Iraq. It took years, he added, for the Army to cut through the bureaucracy and engage American companies to build vehicle shields of titanium, which is stronger and lighter than steel and provides better protection from IEDs.

Prior to joining Ohio State, Dr. Mansoor was the executive officer to General David Petraeus, then the Commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq.

SOURCE Defense Metals Technology Center

Source: PR Newswire

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