The phrase “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks,” from the Book of Isaiah, is used today to describe how military weapons and technologies can be converted into peaceful civilian applications. However, there could be a day when the U.S. military may be forced to call upon civilians to turn in their titanium golf clubs, bicycles, and skis – at least if the United States loses its ability to source the lightweight metal.
Stars & Stripes reported earlier this year that after decades of diminishing domestic production capacity, the U.S. withdrew from titanium sponge production by 2020 and now relies entirely on foreign sources. Japan currently supplies upwards of 92% of the U.S. titanium sponge imports.
More ominous is the fact that as the U.S. was retreating from the market following the global COVID-19 pandemic, China’s titanium sponge production capacity grew by 1,050%, according to the Department of Commerce. Russia, which had long dominated the sector, also increased its output by 66%. Together, China and Russia now own 70% of the global titanium market.
“This isn’t some trivial matter. By withdrawing from the titanium production market and failing to support more diverse supply chains, the U.S. has handed the keys to its national security and economy to its two greatest power competitors and geopolitical threats,” Andriy Brodsky, a crucial minerals expert who serves as chief executive of Ukrainian titanium feedstock producer Velta, wrote for Stars & Stripes.
Brodsky further noted that there are 16 critical infrastructure sectors – including communications, financial services and agriculture — whose assets have been deemed so essential by the federal government that any blackout would have a debilitating effect on the country. Titanium supports 15 of these 16 sectors, according to a report by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security.
That was somewhat ironic as it turns out that titanium is the ninth most abundant element on Earth. It is almost always present in igneous rocks and the sediments derived from them. It occurs in the minerals ilmenite, rutile, and sphene and is present in titanates and many iron ores.
Power of the Titans
Following the end of the Cold War, titanium became the “go-to” material of choice for many high-end consumer products – notably bicycles, golf clubs, tennis rackets and even skis. The strength to weight ratio made titanium a great material choice in the sporting goods market where weight reduction was beneficial. Not only could the equipment with a low density improve the performance of athletes, titanium could allow it to last longer.
Moreover, titanium had a high resistance to corrosion, low level of elasticity and tolerance to scratch and damage.
Despite the fact that titanium is actually one of the most abundant metals found the earth’s crust, as late as 1945, there was no commercial production of titanium, and the metal only existed in tiny amounts in labs. It has since formed the literal backbone of the most advanced aerospace technology on the planet – but the U.S. was actually a late comer, only seeing the possibilities after the Soviet Union pioneered the use of titanium in military applications, notably in its submarine program in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
As a result, throughout the Cold War period it was considered a strategic material by the U.S. government. A large stockpile of titanium sponge – a porous form of the pure metal – was even maintained by the Defense National Stockpile Center, until the stockpile was dispersed in the 2000s.
Lightweight Metal That was Hard to Work With
While the Soviet Union had enough titanium that it built the hulls of its seven Project 705 Lira (NATO-reporting name “Alfa”) nuclear-powered attack submarines with the metal, it proved to be far from an easy material to work with.
In order to successfully weld huge titanium panels on a large scale, Soviet engineers had to first create enormous warehouses that were hermetically sealed, then filled with argon, an inert gas that would not interfere with the welding process. Welders had to wear a large cosmonaut-like suit that would supply them with oxygen while inside these warehouses. Moreover, the welders needed their own source of oxygen, while any misstep in the welding process could create a sub that would be dangerous to take on deep dives – as the higher pressure could compromise the weakened hull.
The U.S. Went to Great Lengths To Source Titanium
For the United States in the early 1960s, titanium was practically unobtainium.
Yet, the Lockheed Skunk Works determined that the lightweight metal was material that could provide the durability of stainless steel at excessive temperatures. It was crucial for the development of the United States Air Force’s SR-71 “Blackbird,” which was the first U.S. aircraft to utilize titanium alloy in the airframe.
A key problem was that the United States didn’t have any major sources of the metal, nor did any U.S. allies. The U.S. government sought to obtain as much of the lightweight material as possible, declaring it a strategic metal and creating that stockpile.
In fact, much of the titanium used in the SR-71 ended up being sourced from the same nation the aircraft was used to spy on – namely the Soviet Union! The raw materials were bought from third-world countries and fake companies set up by the CIA.
“The airplane is 92% titanium inside and out. Back when they were building the airplane the United States didn’t have the ore supplies – an ore called rutile ore. It’s a very sandy soil and it’s only found in very few parts of the world. The major supplier of the ore was the USSR. Working through Third World countries and bogus operations, they were able to get the rutile ore shipped to the United States to build the SR-71,” former SR-71 pilot Colonel Rich Graham told the BBC in 2013.
It wasn’t just obtaining the titanium that was an issue for the designers of the high-speed aircraft.
There was also a very valid concern that the use of cadmium-plated steel tools could weaken the body of the aircraft if mishandled, which meant that even new tools had to be designed and fabricated. Those too were made from titanium.
There is even a longstanding rumor that the Soviets believed the titanium that the CIA was secretly buying up was being used for pizza ovens. It wasn’t until after the end of the Cold War that the Kremlin learned the truth. It is doubtful that Moscow will make the same mistake.
