James Hackett, Ester Sabatino, Matthew Bint, Dzaky Naradichiantama, Michael Gjerstad, Jonathan Bentham, Johannes R. Fischbach, Louis Bearn & Yurri Clavilier
Security of supply issues are of growing concern for defence policymakers. This relates to components, platforms and munitions, but also to the raw materials that are used in manufacturing processes. In recent years, NATO and the European Union have released lists of the raw materials they deem critical, both for defence purposes as well as for broader industrial and technological resilience, as have several European nations.
NATO has stated that the availability and secure supply of these critical materials is important for ‘NATO’s technological edge and operational readiness’. These concerns are not new, but they have been exacerbated by geopolitics, technology-modernisation imperatives and initiatives across Europe to pursue energy-transition plans.
Western states’ potential adversaries have, in some cases, a near-monopoly on the supply of vital materials that either are used in current defence platforms or are necessary to power European digital and industrial development and energy-transition ambitions. This is a result of economic and political choices taken by Western states. Mines and processing facilities, for instance, were closed as cheaper alternatives were sourced abroad and as environmental concerns strengthened at home.
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