China is a threat to Europe’s gunpowder supply, defense boss warns
Saab chief cautions that Beijing dominates supplies of a key component to make powder to fire shells, and metal for submarines and warships.
Europe is too reliant on China to make powder for ammunition and risks a supply crisis that could threaten the continent’s security, one of the EU’s most important defense contractors warned.
In an interview with POLITICO, Saab CEO Micael Johansson called on governments to cut environmental rules to make it easier for companies to diversify their supply chains for critical military components.
Beijing plays a key role in supplying EU countries with the raw materials they need for their defense industries, even though China is also providing vital support to Vladimir Putin’s war machine in Ukraine.
When it comes to the supply of ingredients for gunpowder — the propellant used to fire out shells — Western defense firms should look to diversify their sources, said Johansson.
I... What a time to be still alive
Not for long!
Good !
Some were thinking we'd die of WW3 before climate change fucks us up, but then climate change started accelerating and SOMEHOW so does the global peace stability now. It's a race
Begun the guano wars have
This is the sequel, not the prequel.
It's also ludicrous. If Nazi Germany could figure out how to produce the necessary nitrates from domestic supply I'm pretty sure the EU can too.
Now, if neo-fascist Italy was whining about not having African colonies to give them bat shit, that'd track.
Lol, China is a threat? You dumb fuck, if politicians destroy your local supply chains they are the threat.
Why not both?
China did exactly what the western politicians wanted, companies have outsourced production there to make more profits and politicians and investors got rich. Still hasn't changed, politicians want to get rich and reelected, not govern well.
China doesn't want to conquer you.
(Unless you're Japanese and deny the war crimes of Imperial Japan, or Taiwanese, and exist)
China is making territorial claims against every single one of its neighbors, not just Taiwan. It's also, just like Russia, a threat in other ways, e.g. through hacking, misinformation, espionage, market manipulation, etc.
Oh, are you in Asia?
China is by far the top producer of rare earth minerals, so if you constantly produce army equipment that relies on them, China is going to become your bottleneck. Now, who has more interest in making sure this strategic issue gets addressed? International private contractors which only goal should be making a good buck, possibly by showing off latest tech toys with a price you can over-inflate as much as you want, or actual armies and governments, which should always maintain an holistic view of their long-term challenges and goals? Production is almost single-handedly managed by the former. Why have we allowed them to bring us into this dead end?
Not for long.
We are big dumb but we're not quite so dumb as to not try and fix the problem.
Holy shit there is actually something in Wyoming.
😉
As soon as the armies and governments that buy most of that stuff cares the industry will too. Now money talks end everyone cares about cost more than supply chain so the low cost supply chain wins. Pay more and you can get a different supply chain.
Capitalists are not to be trusted
Europe's supply? If China is supplying it, then it's China's supply and they're currently selling it to Europe, but they're not required to sell it to Europe. I know Europe has a long history of imperialism, but the world's resources don't belong to them.
It refers to the part that makes it into Europe and is thus Europe's supply. Even stretching it, it supplies Europe and is thus Europe's supply. The possessive form does not indicate control over all or part of the supply.
My water supply comes from the county. Your air supply comes from, well... the air, or the Earth.
If Europe still was the colonial power it once was, you might have a point. Not a semantic one but a "bad choice of word"-one. But it's not and so you don't.
I mean... Tell me you are pedantic without telling me you are pedantic...
Phrasing is important, especially for headlines. It often paints people's entire impression of a situation.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Europe is too reliant on China to make powder for ammunition and risks a supply crisis that could threaten the continent’s security, one of the EU’s most important defense contractors warned.
In an interview with POLITICO, Saab CEO Micael Johansson called on governments to cut environmental rules to make it easier for companies to diversify their supply chains for critical military components.
Beijing plays a key role in supplying EU countries with the raw materials they need for their defense industries, even though China is also providing vital support to Vladimir Putin’s war machine in Ukraine.
Johansson's comments come as Brussels is also pushing an economic security agenda to reduce dependencies on Beijing — in a bid to "de-risk" the bloc's supply chains.
They can do that "either by identifying new producers — but whose cotton they need to re-qualify for powder manufacture, which takes time — or by investing in new solutions such as wood cellulose, which some are already doing," the official told POLITICO.
Before Moscow invaded Ukraine, Europe's aerospace giants including Airbus were heavily reliant on Russia for titanium, which is a key material for the defense industry, used for building both military aircraft and submarines.
The original article contains 668 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 70%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!