Pentagon splits sole-source NdFeB orders between E-VAC and Noveon as Army opens 480,000-unit drone-motor line
The gap the Army itself acknowledges is that the NdFeB magnets inside those newly domestic motors remain roughly 90% China-manufactured, with the DFARS prohibition on Chinese-origin magnets in defense systems taking effect in 2027.
The Defense Logistics Agency has awarded parallel sole-source delivery orders worth a combined $25.8 million for NdFeB magnet blocks – $12.9 million each to E-VAC Magnetics of Sumter, South Carolina, and Noveon Magnetics of San Marcos, Texas.
The firm-fixed-price orders, announced May 26 and running through May 2027, cover all five military branches and were justified under the industrial-mobilization exception of 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(3)(A) – a structure that confirms the U.S. currently fields exactly two qualified domestic sintered-NdFeB producers.
The DLA separately awarded Advanced Magnet Lab $2 million in May to qualify a third source of US-made sintered NdFeB for defense applications.
The demand side arrived five weeks later. On June 30 the Army opened its first domestic production line for small-drone motors at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania – a brushless DC motor line running at 1,500 units a day, targeting roughly 480,000 a year with ultimate capacity above 500,000, enough to equip 375 four-motor small drones daily.
The line anchors the Dept of War’s Drone Dominance push and the SkyFoundry initiative, which has pivoted from assembling complete drones to mass-producing critical components across Army depots. A companion line for the drones’ control electronics is already running at 90,000–150,000 units a year.
The gap the Army itself acknowledges: the NdFeB magnets inside those newly domestic motors remain roughly 90% China-manufactured, with the DFARS prohibition on Chinese-origin magnets in defense systems taking effect in 2027.
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The dual award is the Dept of War moving from funding supply to guaranteeing offtake.
The gap the Army itself acknowledges is that the NdFeB magnets inside those newly domestic motors remain roughly 90% China-manufactured, with the DFARS prohibition on Chinese-origin magnets in defense systems taking effect in 2027.
In our Rare Earth Magnet Market Outlook to 2040 report, we forecast that from a modest base, global procurement of drones for defense applications will increase at a CAGR of 15% to 2.2 million annually in 2040, with a surge expected through 2029 as the U.S. and others ramp up orders, which is borne out by this DLA award.
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