The geopolitics of military material supply

The advent of the New World Order has raised a number of key logistical concerns for the defence industries of the West. To ensure the procurement of supplies of material, whether raw materials or finished components, for production, and particularly surge production, introduces a variety of geographical and geopolitical problems. Resources for which there are potential supply problems are designated strategic and this paper summarizes the author's work in the US and the UK on the identification of such resources.