Highlights

• Britain's government has delayed publishing its Critical Minerals Strategy.
• This delay leaves F-35 fighter jet supply chains vulnerable to China's control of 85% of rare earth processing and export restrictions.
• The US, Japan, and EU are fast-tracking mine-to-magnet supply chains with subsidies and infrastructure.
• The UK lacks domestic rare earth separation plants and refining capabilities.
• Defense experts warn that policy delays compound military risks.
• Critical minerals like neodymium, cobalt, and gallium are essential enablers for radar, engines, and stealth systems—not just commodities.

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Britain’s defense sector now finds itself in an awkward position: flying the world’s most advanced fighter jet—the F-35B Lightning II—while lagging in securing the minerals that make it possible. According to iNews’ (opens in a new tab) Jane Merrick, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has yet to publish the long-promised Critical Minerals Strategy, an updated blueprint for sourcing the rare earths, cobalt, gallium, titanium, and beryllium vital to the F-35’s engines, radar, and stealth systems.

Industry insiders warn that without a clear plan, Britain risks falling behind allies who are already stockpiling and diversifying supplies in response to China’s export controls. The U.S. and Japan are fast-tracking mine-to-magnet supply chains; the EU is funding processing capacity from Sweden to Estonia. Yet the U.K. appears stuck between Whitehall drafts and shifting priorities.

Strategy Delayed, Risk Compounded

Experts quoted in the iNews piece are correct: critical minerals aren’t just commodities—they’re military enablers. A delayed strategy means longer-term exposure to price volatility, foreign dependency, and supply bottlenecks. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith put it bluntly: “Having a supply directly owned by us must surely be a critical issue.”

But the report stops short of examining the structural gap beneath the policy delay. Even if the document lands “soon,” Britain currently has no domestic rare earth separation plant and only one serious near-term lithium producer—Cornish Lithium—still in development. The country’s refining, recycling, and magnet-making capabilities remain embryonic. Without industrial coordination, a strategy risks being another policy without production.

The Invisible Front Line

What the article gets right is the urgency; what it misses is the depth of dependency. China still controls about 85% of rare earth processing, including oxides essential to F-35 permanent magnets. Even temporary export suspensions ripple across the defence supply chain, from turbine alloys to radar materials. The piece also underplays another risk: allied competition. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and Japan’s METI subsidies are absorbing capital that might have supported U.K. projects. Every month of delay widens that gap.

Still, there’s hope if policy meets action. Partnering with Greenland, Australia, and Canada could give Britain secure feedstock—provided processing follows. The U.K.’s strength isn’t mining; it’s materials science, aerospace engineering, and responsible sourcing frameworks that can attract allied capital.

Rare Earth Exchanges Takeaway

Jane Merrick’s reporting is sound and well-sourced, but incomplete. The threat isn’t simply a “late strategy”; it’s the slow erosion of Britain’s industrial edge in a world racing toward resource realism. Defense readiness now hinges not only on airframes and pilots but on supply chain sovereignty—and time, like neodymium, is running short.

Media Ownership Note-- The i newspaper is owned by DMGT (Daily Mail and General Trust) (opens in a new tab), which bought it in November 2019 for £49.6 million. DMGT is also the owner of the Daily Mail (opens in a new tab) and the parent company is dmg media (opens in a new tab). The purchase was made from JPI Media, which had acquired the paper after Johnston Press went into administration.

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