defense

Materials/Manufacturing

Magnets for Army Drones Mark 10th American Military Contract for Vulcan Elements

October 28, 2026 Editorial Staff 0

DURHAM, N.C., September 23, 2026 – Marking its tenth U.S. Department of War contract, Vulcan Elements announced its competitive selection by the U.S. Army to supply high-performance neodymium iron boron magnets for the Army’s drone initiative to produce small unmanned aircraft systems. The initiative is the Army’s vertically-integrated effort to produce small drones that aims to produce one million drones per year in the United States, at the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania. […]

Materials/Manufacturing

Midstream Processing for Magnet Feedstock Focus of U.S. Department of War’s $500M Loan to Phoenix Tailings 

October 8, 2026 Editorial Staff Comments Off on Midstream Processing for Magnet Feedstock Focus of U.S. Department of War’s $500M Loan to Phoenix Tailings 

Citing midstream processing as the critical link in America’s rare earths supply chain, the U.S. Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital is planning to loan $500 million to Phoenix Tailings that would back half the cost of a large new plant, to be named the Freedom Facility. The funds would anchor an approximately $1 billion comprehensive financing initiative aimed at rebuilding America’s rare earth industrial base. Plans call for the facility to process diverse feedstocks to produce light and heavy rare earth metals by creating a large-scale separation and metallization capacity capable of serving mines, recyclers, manufacturers and government entities. […]

News

Ukraine Achieves Drone Navigation Stability with Magnetometer from PNI Sensor 

September 23, 2026 Editorial Staff Comments Off on Ukraine Achieves Drone Navigation Stability with Magnetometer from PNI Sensor 

PNI Sensor reports that Ukraine’s drones are using the company’s RM3100 magnetometer for navigation sensing in GPS-denied environments. The core idea is simple: when navigation is more precise, drone performance improves. In contested environments, that precision can make a measurable difference in mission reliability and control. […]

Electromagnetics

New VICTS Systems from ThinKom Battle Drone Swarms & Provide Transportable Ground Stations 

July 21, 2026 Editorial Staff Comments Off on New VICTS Systems from ThinKom Battle Drone Swarms & Provide Transportable Ground Stations 

Aggressively rolling out its VICTS technology that incorporates innovative magnetic technology for high-power microwave communications systems, phased array antenna company ThinKom Solutions continues to apply the technology for new applications in defense and commercial markets. In two recent developments, the Hawthorne, California-based company: […]

e-Power Technology

Leonardo DRS Developing Modular Permanent Magnet Machines for e-Power Programs

July 14, 2026 Editorial Staff Comments Off on Leonardo DRS Developing Modular Permanent Magnet Machines for e-Power Programs

Across marine, government and industrial sectors, electrification is accelerating—but the requirements are rarely simple. Platform designers and system integrators are being asked to deliver more power in less space, improve overall energy utilization, and maintain performance in harsh operating […]