NATO has released a list of 12 minerals essential for advanced defense technologies, emphasizing the importance of securing these materials for maintaining its military edge.
Defense organization NATO , the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has issued a list of 12 minerals it deems critical to the production of advanced defense systems and equipment.The list includes aluminium, beryllium, cobalt, gallium, germanium, graphite, lithium, manganese, platinum, rare earth elements, titanium and tungsten.
Many of these minerals can withstand extreme operating conditions, such as temperatures and stress, create alloys of superalloys, are used in advanced electronics, or provide hardness to enhance missile penetration.NATO was established after World War II as a mutual defense agreement that now encompasses 32 member states across much of the geopolitical Western world, including the USA. Originally, it was seen as the US providing a protective shield to Western European nations to counterbalance the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Today, increasingly its concerns are Russian aggression in eastern Europe and the increasing military might of China.NATO said success in securing the supply of these materials is vital to maintaining its technological edge and operational readiness, and identifying these key materials is the first step towards building stronger, better-protected supply chains.NATO Defence Ministers endorsed a roadmap in June 2024 to protect allied supply chains from disruptions that could affect NATO's capabilities.The issue of the follows the release of various critical minerals lists by US agencies during the administration of president Joe Biden, such as by the Department of Defense and the US Geological Survey.Crucially, it comes as the presidency of Donald Trump, who will be sworn into office on January 20, and who has made several comments about the US role in NATO, and what its future might look like.Trump has bemoaned how the USA has shouldered the bulk of NATO spending and has demanded that other alliance members assume their share of the costs to benefit from the US military shiel
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