Sign In
Search
International

AFRICOM Chief Cites Concern On China’s Growing Presence, Push For Rare Earth Minerals In Region

Matthew Beinart By
SHARE:
AFRICOM Chief Cites Concern On China’s Growing Presence, Push For Rare Earth Minerals In Region
U.S. Army Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commander of U.S. Africa Command, meets with troops assigned to the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, Nov. 3, 2019, on Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. Townsend visited to engage with key partners on the long-term stability in East Africa, oversee the multinational maritime exercise Cutlass Express and recognize U.S. service members in the region. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Senior Airman Codie Trimble)

The head of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) spoke on Tuesday of China’s growing influence in the region, specifically citing his concerns with Beijing’s aggressive economic push across the continent and moves to corner the rare Earth mineral market. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend told lawmakers he sees China aiming to expand its basing opportunities in Africa and cited a need for bolstered intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities in the theater as a result of increasing activity from “global power competitors.”…

Subscriber-only content. Please log in below.

Not a subscriber or registered user yet?

Please contact us at clientservices@accessintel.com or call us at 888-707-5814 (Monday – Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and Friday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET.), to start a free trial, get pricing information, order a reprint, or post an article link on your website.

Recommended

International

Raytheon Working With European Firms To Build Stingers In Netherlands, Double Production Capacity

International

Trump Will ‘Consider’ Turkey Rejoining F-35 Program, Says U.S. Will Lift Sanctions

International

Trump Says U.S. Will Grant Ukraine License To Build Patriot Interceptors

International

Lockheed, Rheinmetall Sign Agreement To Work On ATACMS Co-Production In Germany

Trending

At Least 15 F-35s “DD-250’ed” Since May 2025
Auriga Space Adapting Electromagnetic Launch Tech For Counter-Drone Interception
Army Negotiating With AV On Enduring-High Energy Laser Contract, Lozano Says
Singularity, Startup Developing Low-Cost Air Defense Systems, Exits Stealth With $80 Million Round
L3Harris And Sierra Space Receive $1.75 Billion For SDA Tranche 3, Tracking Layer

Congress Updates

Congress

House Republicans’ Blueprint For Reconciliation 3.0 Includes $60 Billion For Defense

House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a blueprint for a third reconciliation bill that includes $60 billion for defense, a figure slightly below the Trump administration’s request to cover Iran war […]

Congress

Senate Dems Block Consideration Of FY ‘27 NDAA Over Iran War Concerns

Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a vote to advance consideration of the chamber’s $1.14 trillion fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization (NDAA). The procedural vote was 46-50, failing to reach […]

Congress

Concerns Raised At SASC Hearing On Unobligated Reconciliation Funds And Lack Of Updates On Iran War Cost

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) raised concerns at a hearing on Tuesday about the majority of funds in the $153 billion first reconciliation bill being unobligated thus […]

Unmanned Systems

CBO Says Upfront Costs To Protect Military Installations From Drones Between $1 Million And $74 Million

The initial costs to acquire and deploy counter-small unmanned aircraft system (C-sUAS) defenses at individual Defense Department installations are estimated at between $1.2 million and $73.6 million depending on the […]

The Force Multipliers

Force Multipliers

Michael Harrison – SANS Institute

Force Multipliers

Michael DiOrio – Dataminr

Force Multipliers

Arne Brinck – Dark Wolf Solutions

Force Multipliers

Jags Kandasamy – Latent AI

Job Feed

Post a Job // Post a Resume