supply

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge is deployed in support of the U.S. Southern Command mission, The USS Truxtun, a warship of the same class, collided with a Navy supply ship in South America on Wednesday, injuring two people. File Photo by PO2 Triniti Lersch/U.S. Navy/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 12 (UPI) — Two U.S. Navy ships collided during a refueling operation in South America, injuring two people, U.S. Southern Command said.

The incident occurred on Wednesday when a Navy warship collided with a Navy supply vessel. Two people suffered minor injuries and are in stable condition.

The warship is the Arleigh Burke-class USS Truxtun guided missile destroyer. The other vessel is a Supply-class fast combat support ship, USNS Supply. Both ships remain operational and have continued to sail following the collision.

U.S. Southern Command did not specify the exact location where the crash took place. The cause of the crash was not specified either.

The supply ship has been recently posted in the Caribbean which falls under the purview of U.S. Southern Command. Southern Command presides over military operations throughout South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

The United States has increased its presence in Southern Command’s region in recent months as operations against alleged drug smuggling vessels have intensified.

Last month, President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet presided over the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and his wife.

It is rare for U.S. Navy vessels to crash into each other. In 2017, 17 sailors were killed in two separate crashes between Navy ships in the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Navy determined both crashes were avoidable.

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (UPI) — South Korea will seek closer cooperation with China to stabilize supplies of rare earth minerals critical to its high-tech industries, the government said Thursday, as Seoul unveiled a strategy to strengthen supply chain security.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources announced a comprehensive plan calling for expanded cooperation channels with Beijing, including the establishment of a government-to-government hotline and joint consultative body to help prevent supply disruptions.

The initiative comes as South Korea, one of the world’s top high-tech exporters, remains heavily reliant on imported raw materials essential to manufacturing.

“South Korea has developed advanced industries such as semiconductors, electric vehicles and batteries, but as a resource-importing country, we face many challenges in managing supply chains,” Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said during a visit to a rare earth magnet manufacturer in Daegu.

“Our national competitiveness depends on industrial resource security, and the government will focus its policy capabilities on building a resilient industrial structure that is not shaken by external changes,” he said.

Rare earth elements — a group of 17 metals used in components such as permanent magnets, electric motors and advanced electronics — are widely considered vital to next-generation manufacturing. China’s dominance of rare earth processing and refining has left global manufacturers vulnerable to export controls and geopolitical tensions.

Under the plan, South Korea will designate all 17 rare earth elements as core strategic minerals and create new customs classification codes to improve monitoring and demand forecasting.

Seoul also aims to expand domestic production and recycling capacity through regulatory reforms and subsidies for new facilities, while creating a dedicated rare earth research and development fund under an existing industrial innovation investment program.

To support overseas supply diversification, the government will increase policy loans for overseas resource development to $46.2 million this year, up from $26.6 million in 2025, while expanding the state financing coverage ratio to 70% from 50%, the ministry said.

Beyond China, South Korea said it will pursue supply partnerships with countries including Vietnam and Laos as part of efforts to diversify procurement channels and reduce reliance on any single supplier.

The announcement comes a day after South Korea was tapped to chair Washington’s Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement, or FORGE, a U.S.-led framework aimed at strengthening supply chain resilience among allied economies for critical minerals and emerging technologies.