Aerospace and Defense Critical Minerals

The aerospace and defense industries are among the most mineral-intensive sectors of the global economy and among the most sensitive to supply disruption. Modern military aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, missiles, and naval vessels are built from advanced materials that demand specific critical minerals, often in quantities too small to drive global markets but too vital to be substituted. The convergence of performance requirements, security considerations, and concentrated supply chains makes aerospace and defense one of the most strategically significant consumers of critical minerals.

Titanium: The Airframe Metal

Titanium's combination of high strength, low density, and corrosion resistance makes it irreplaceable in aerospace structures. Modern commercial aircraft use titanium alloys for critical structural components, landing gear, engine mounts, and fasteners. Military aircraft, including fifth-generation fighters such as the F-35 Lightning II, contain even higher percentages of titanium, with some designs incorporating 15 to 20 percent titanium by structural weight. Titanium sponge, the intermediate product used to manufacture aerospace-grade alloys, has historically been sourced significantly from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Japan. Russia's VSMPO-AVISMA was the world's largest titanium producer and a key supplier to both Boeing and Airbus before geopolitical tensions disrupted these relationships following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Superalloy Elements: Cobalt, Rhenium, and Nickel

Jet engine turbine blades operate at temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius while spinning at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute. The nickel-based superalloys that enable this performance contain precise additions of cobalt, rhenium, tungsten, tantalum, hafnium, and other elements. Rhenium is particularly critical: it is added at concentrations of 3 to 6 percent in single-crystal turbine blade alloys to improve creep resistance at extreme temperatures. Global rhenium production is only about 50 to 60 metric tons per year, sourced primarily as a byproduct of molybdenum roasting in Chile, the United States, and Poland. This tiny market and byproduct dependency make rhenium one of the most supply-vulnerable materials in the defense industrial base.

Cobalt serves dual roles in aerospace: as a key component of superalloys for turbine disks and blades, and as a constituent of samarium-cobalt permanent magnets used in actuators and precision guidance systems. The concentration of cobalt mining in the DRC creates a persistent supply risk for both applications. The US Defense Logistics Agency maintains a strategic stockpile of cobalt specifically to buffer against supply disruption.

Tungsten: Density, Hardness, and Penetration

Tungsten's extraordinary density (19.3 grams per cubic centimeter, comparable to gold) and extreme hardness make it essential for kinetic energy penetrators, armor-piercing ammunition, counterweights in missiles and aircraft, and radiation shielding. Tungsten carbide is the standard material for cutting tools used in precision aerospace manufacturing. China produces approximately 80 percent of the world's tungsten, a concentration that has long been a concern for defense planners. Alternative sources exist in Russia, Canada, Bolivia, and Portugal, but scaling production to reduce Chinese dominance is a multi-year undertaking.

Beryllium: Lightweight and Specialized

Beryllium is unique among structural metals for its combination of low density, high stiffness, and transparency to X-rays. These properties make it indispensable for satellite optics, missile guidance system gimbals, nuclear weapon components, and space-based infrared sensor housings. The James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror is made of beryllium. The United States is the world's dominant beryllium producer, with Materion Corporation operating the only fully integrated beryllium supply chain from mine to finished component in the Western Hemisphere. This rare case of US supply chain leadership is recognized as a strategic asset.

Rare Earths in Defense Systems

Rare earth elements pervade modern defense systems. Neodymium and samarium permanent magnets are used in guided missiles, smart bombs, unmanned aerial vehicles, satellite attitude control systems, and submarine propulsion motors. Yttrium and europium are used in infrared countermeasure systems. Lanthanum is found in night vision optics. Cerium is used in precision optical polishing for targeting systems. The Department of Defense has identified rare earth dependence as a critical vulnerability, noting that a single Virginia-class submarine requires approximately 4,200 kilograms of rare earth materials, while an F-35 fighter jet uses approximately 430 kilograms.

Tantalum, Niobium, and Hafnium

Tantalum capacitors are essential in military electronics for their reliability in extreme conditions. Niobium is a critical alloying element in high-strength, low-alloy steels used in landing gear and structural applications, and it is a key component of the niobium-titanium and niobium-tin superconducting alloys used in advanced sensor systems. Hafnium is used in nuclear submarine reactor control rods due to its exceptional neutron absorption capacity, and in nickel superalloys for improved oxidation resistance. Each of these minerals faces its own supply concentration challenges, with tantalum historically sourced from conflict regions in Central Africa, niobium overwhelmingly dominated by Brazil, and hafnium produced as a byproduct of zirconium refining.

The Strategic Imperative

Aerospace and defense mineral requirements differ fundamentally from those of consumer industries. Volumes are smaller but specifications are more demanding, lead times are longer, and supply disruption carries national security consequences rather than merely commercial ones. The US Department of Defense, through the Defense Production Act Title III program, the Strategic and Critical Materials Stockpiling Act, and direct investment in domestic processing capacity, has increasingly prioritized the resilience of critical mineral supply chains for defense applications. Allied nations in Europe and the Indo-Pacific are pursuing parallel initiatives, recognizing that military capability ultimately depends on secure access to the specialized materials from which advanced weapons systems are built.