EU’s Defence Industry Needs a Secure and Sustainable Materials Supply Chain

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Access to raw materials is of growing concern for the European economy. In support of the EU raw materials strategy, a new JRC study identifies the raw materials that are used in the European defence industry. It contributes to better understanding of the importance of materials supply for the defence value chain. This is in particular informing and strengthening the European Defence Action Plan published by the Commission on 30 November 2016. 

The study reviewed representative defence applications and identified 47 processed and semi-finished advanced materials that are necessary for their manufacture, such as alloys, composites and compounds. Thirty nine raw materials are needed for the production of these advanced materials.

European defence industry: highly dependent on imports and critical raw materials 

Nearly half of the 39 raw materials are imported to the EU and an additional quarter relies on import for more than 50% of their demand, thus raising concerns on the security of materials supply. China is major producer for one-third of the raw materials identified in the study. 

Sixteen of the 39 raw materials used in defence applications are included in the EU’s critical raw materials list of 2014. Aeronautics and electronics sectors of defence industry are the most vulnerable to potential disruptions in the supply of materials. 

However, the demand for raw materials in the manufacture of defence applications is relatively low.  The EU lead system integrators (original equipment manufacturers) and top-tier contractors in the defence industry do not usually purchase raw materials as such, but specialised high-value processed and semi-finished materials, production of which relies on the raw materials in question. 

Advanced materials crucially important to the European defence industry 

The European defence industrial base requires very specialised high-performance processed materials for the production of its defence applications. The study highlights that the EU is a large manufacturer of alloys and special steels, and should maintain its production capacities.  However, the EU should improve its production capacities for speciality composite materials and their precursors in order to guarantee the integrity of the materials supply. 

Need to improve knowledge on materials used in the European defence sector 

The report suggests a need to better understand and improve the knowledge base for the materials used in the European defence sector to develop future initiatives to ensure materials supply. This can be achieved by promoting information sharing between all relevant stakeholders and by further studying the complex materials supply chain needed by the European defence industry. The report also suggests to better exploit the dual-use potential of materials by SMEs and large companies, and to promote R&D programmes for the development of high-tech and advanced materials that can address the need of both defence and civil communities.