Critical Materials For European Defence

Rare earth permanent magnets, gallium and germanium sit beneath the visible architecture of European defence capability. They shape the performance of motors, actuators, radar systems, sensors, electronic-warfare equipment, satellite components and electro-optical systems, yet the strategic constraint is not simply access to mineral deposits. The harder question is whether Europe can separate, refine, metallise, alloy, recycle and qualify these materials at industrial scale without remaining dependent on Chinese-controlled midstream capacity. This report examines that question through four connected layers.

It first explains the defence relevance of rare earth magnets, gallium and germanium. It then analyses the EU Critical Raw Materials Act and RESourceEU as the emerging policy framework for supply-chain resilience. The third section assesses the China chokepoint and the European midstream gap across refining, metallurgy, magnet production and semiconductor inputs. The final section profiles the industrial race now under way, including European projects, companies, capital requirements and the signals that investors, defence primes and sovereign buyers should monitor between 2025 and 2030.

Rare earth permanent magnets, gallium and germanium sit in the least visible but most consequential layer of European defence industrial capability. They are not traded in the public imagination like combat aircraft, missiles or radar systems, yet they determine whether those systems can be built, upgraded, repaired and scaled. What matters strategically is not only geological availability. It is the ability to separate, refine, metallise, alloy, recycle and qualify materials into dependable industrial inputs at the right cost, purity and lead time.

That is where Europe remains narrow, fragmented and exposed.