Bucket-wheel excavators mine rare earth materials on Ukrainian soil on February 25, 2025, in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine. (Kostiantyn Liberov via Getty Images)
The guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald fires the first Naval Strike Missile from a US destroyer on July 18, 2024, in the Pacific Ocean. (US Navy photo)
Fast-attack submarine USS North Carolina (SSN 777) enters Dry Dock 1 at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Hawaii, on September 4, 2024. (US Navy photo by Justice Vannatta)
A South Korean Army K1E1 tank crosses a pontoon bridge on the Imjin River during a joint river- crossing exercise as part of the Freedom Shield military drills with US and ROK forces in the border town of Yeoncheon, South Korea, on March 20, 2025. (Getty Images)
Rwandan Counter-Terrorism Special Units and Mozambique police patrol streets in the town of Palma as Rwanda provided military assistance after the militant group Ansar al-Sunna seized critical locations in the region rich in natural gas and valuable metals, in Palma, Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique on December 18, 2023. (Cyrile Ndegeya/Anadolu via Getty Images)
South Sudanese military police officers monitor the area during a South Sudanese Unified Forces deployment ceremony at the Luri Military Training Centre in Juba on November 15, 2023. (Peter Louis Gume/AFP via Getty Images)
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks during a meeting of African leaders with Russian President at the Konstantin Palace in Strelna on June 17, 2023 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (Contributor via Getty Images)
Leadership from Camp Lemonnier and Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa attend a graduation ceremony and skills demonstration for the Somalian Police Force at the Djibouti Police Academy on April 9, 2019. (Joe Rullo via DVIDS)
Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland wave the Niger national flag and flag bearing the logo of private military Company Wagner as they gather to protest ouside the Niger and French airbase to demand the departure of the French army from Niger in Niamey on September 16, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)
A Nigerian soldier on the back of a gun boat surveys a creek for illegal oil refineries during a patrole on April 19, 2017, in the Niger Delta region near the city of Warri. (Stefan Heunis/AFP via Getty Images)
Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland display a French national flag with a x-mark on during a protest outside Niger and French airbase in Niamey on September 1, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)
A vehicle with Somali National Army soldiers on patrol on October 17, 2022, near Doolow in the Gedo region of South West, Somalia. (Photo by Giles Clarke/UNOCHA via Getty Images)