Raw materials in the European defence industry Claudiu C. Pavel Evangelos Tzimas 2016 EUR 27542 EN This publication is a Science for Policy report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policy-making process. The scientific output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of this publication. Contact information Name: Claudiu Pavel Address: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, PO Box 2, NL-1755 ZG Petten, the Netherlands E-mail: [email protected] Tel. +31 224 565 229 JRC Science Hub https://ec.europa.eu/jrc JRC98333 EUR 27542 EN PDF ISBN 978-92-79-53082-1 ISSN 1831-9424 doi:10.2790/0444 Print ISBN 978-92-79-53081-4 ISSN 1018-5593 doi:10.2790/509931 Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2016 © European Union, 2016 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. How to cite: C.C. Pavel, E. Tzimas; Raw materials in the European defence industry; EUR 27542 EN; doi:10.2790/0444 All images © European Union 2016, except: cover picture: Advanced European military jet in flight: source Fotolia; figures 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7: source the European Company for Strategic Intelligence (CEIS); figure 4.1: source Rolls-Royce; figure 5.3: SNL metals and mining; figure 6.11: source: Rolls-Royce. Raw materials in the European defence industry Abstract: Access to raw materials is of growing concern for the European economy. In the context of the EU raw materials strategy, this study identifies the raw materials that are important for the European defence industry and evaluates the potential risks associated to their supply in terms of import dependency. The European defence industrial base requires specialised high-performance processed materials for the production of its defence applications: 39 raw materials are necessary to manufacture such advanced materials. For about half of them, the defence industry relies 100% on imports from countries outside the EU. The demand for raw materials for the production of defence applications is relatively low. Moreover, the lead system integrators and top-tier contractors in the defence industry usually do not purchase raw materials as such, but rather semi-finished and finished products made of high- performance materials. The study identified 47 different alloys, compounds and composites materials important to the European defence industry. Given the very high level of performance and special properties of these materials, that cannot be matched by readily available substitutes – their potential supply risk is much higher compared to the supply risk of the constituent raw materials. The European industry needs to secure the supply of a number of raw materials from international sources, maintain its global leadership in the manufacture of high-performance alloys and special steel, and further develop capabilities for the production of speciality composite materials to tackle the supply risks associated with raw and processed materials used in the defence sector. Raw materials in the European defence industry Claudiu C. Pavel & Evangelos Tzimas European Commission, Joint Research Centre Directorate for Energy, Transport & Climate Knowledge for Energy Union Unit - 2016 – Table of contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 2 Executive summary ............................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Background ............................................................................................... 6 1.1.1 EU Raw Materials Initiative and critical raw materials ................................ 6 1.1.2 Tackling the raw materials supply risks in Europe's defence industry ........... 7 1.2 Overview of international efforts to identify the raw materials used in the defence industry .............................................................................................. 7 1.3 An overview of the importance of raw, processed and semi-finished materials in the defence industry ................................................................................... 11 1.4 Scope of the study and approach ............................................................... 12 2. Overview of the EU defence industry .................................................................. 14 2.1 General considerations ............................................................................. 14 2.2 Identification of key defence systems and applications .................................. 17 3. Inventory of materials used in defence applications at system and component level 20 4. Inventory of materials in the European defence industry ...................................... 39 4.1 List of processed materials used in defence applications ................................ 39 4.2 List of raw materials used in defence applications ........................................ 43 5. Industrial dependency on raw materials used in European defence applications ....... 50 5.1 Assessment of import dependency ............................................................. 50 5.2 Opportunities for increasing EU production .................................................. 56 6. Assessment of global and EU production capability for materials used in the defence industry: the case of high-performance alloys and aerospace materials .......... 59 6.1 High-performance alloys ........................................................................... 59 6.2 Materials for aeronautical applications ........................................................ 62 6.3 Global and EU production capability of high-performance alloys and aerospace materials ....................................................................................... 69 6.4 R&D initiatives related to materials development for the defence sector .......... 73 7. Conclusions .................................................................................................... 75 References ......................................................................................................... 79 List of abbreviations and definitions ....................................................................... 81 Appendix 1: Overview of the production of defence-related applications by the European defence sector ...................................................................................... 82 Appendix 2: Description of the European defence applications .................................. 90 Appendix 3: Composition of main alloys used in the defence industry ...................... 117 1 Acknowledgements This report has been produced in the context of Administrative Arrangement SI2.688731 between DG GROW and the JRC. It takes stock of the outcome of a prior contract study carried out by the European Company for Strategic Intelligence (CEIS) and the BIO Intelligence Service for the JRC (contract number 112892 with the European Commission). The authors would like to thank Patricia Alves Dias (JRC) for her contribution to data collection, and the following experts for their valuable comments during the preparation of the report: Andrew Clifton Rolls-Royce Plc Kerrill Grealy Meggitt Avionics Roland Lang Airbus Defence and Space Neil Watt Thales 2 Executive summary Policy context Access to raw materials is of growing concern for the European economy. Prepared in the context of the EU raw materials strategy and in support of the European Defence Action Plan (EDAP), this study identifies the raw materials that are important to the European defence industry. The screening of raw materials used in the European defence industry represents an action within the implementation roadmap, put forward by the European Commission, for promoting a more competitive and efficient defence and security sector1. The study was carried out by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) at the request of DG GROW through an Administrative Arrangement (AA). This assessment was built on the JRC’s experience on the analysis of the role of raw materials in the transition of the European energy system to a low-carbon economy. Methods and approach The study was conducted in close collaboration with DG GROW and has taken stock of a previous analysis subcontracted by the JRC to a consortium of the European Company for Strategic Intelligence (CEIS) and the BIO Intelligence Service. These specialised consultants identified the most important applications from the main defence sectors of the European industry, i.e. aeronautics, naval, land, space, electronic and missile, and further disaggregated these applications into subsystems, components and materials. The study has also benefited from input collected by the JRC from specialised reports, industrial experts and associations (e.g. Community of European Shipyards Associations). Finally, the report has been reviewed by industrial stakeholders (i.e. Rolls- Royce Plc, Meggitt Avionics, Airbus Defence and Space and Thales) and Member States in coordination with DG GROW. Main findings An assessment of the most representative applications of the European defence industry revealed that 47 different processed