Securing the U.S. Aerospace and Defense Critical Minerals Supply Chain

The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) released a comprehensive list of critical minerals vital to the aerospace and defense industry and provided recommendations to secure the critical mineral supply chain. AIA identified at least 12 critical minerals that are strategically significant to the aerospace and defense industry.

Of those, the United States has a net import reliance of over 50 percent on all but two of those minerals. Current U.S. capacity to produce these minerals is limited, and it can take companies up to 10 years to transition and certify new suppliers. AIA’s latest white paper comes as U.S. policymakers consider new legislation, policies, and regulations to address vulnerabilities in the critical minerals supply chain across all industry.