Critical Raw Materials and UK Defence Acquisition

Abstract

This chapter examines the factors which could affect future critical raw material availability for UK defence, focusing on the availability of rare earth elements (REE). These include tighter regulatory policy and its enforcement, export policies, promoting greater efficiency in resource use, efforts to mitigate resource depletion and more efficient resource extraction while reducing its associated environmental impact. There is also the effect these factors might have on global supply chains, the impact on material insecurity and how this may exacerbate the issue of their use in UK defence acquisition. While this chapter looks at the issues and vulnerabilities surrounding the availability of REE, underlying this is the increasing vulnerability of military supply chains in an increasingly globalised world.