Circularity as a supply-security instrument
Defence platforms embed critical raw materials that Europe does not control – while retiring fleets leave service with no structured material recovery, and decisions rest on unverified content estimates. We bring engineering-grade quantification to both problems.
- Aeronautical engineering background
- Critical raw materials
- Design for recovery
Why Defence Needs Circularity
Not for sustainability reporting – for availability, resilience and strategic autonomy.
Concentrated dependencies
Rare earth magnets, tungsten, titanium and other defence-critical materials depend on extraction and refining concentrated outside Europe – and increasingly subject to export controls.
Nobody knows what's inside
Public estimates of the critical-material content of major platforms diverge widely – by more than an order of magnitude for the same aircraft. Policy, procurement and recovery decisions are made without bill-of-materials-level knowledge of the assets.
A closing design window
Fleets leave service with no structured material recovery, while next-generation designs are being frozen. Design-for-recovery requirements cost little at the drawing board and become impossible to retrofit later.
What We Do
Scoped, procurable engagements for ministries, agencies and defence industry.
Study
CRM Circularity Baseline
A 6–10 week fixed-price study of a chosen equipment category: critical raw material exposure, recoverable content with stated assumption ranges, recovery options at end-of-life, and quantified resilience implications.
Advisory
Design-for-Recovery
Support for embedding material-recovery and data requirements into new procurement and platform design – from disassembly-aware architecture reviews to defence material passport concepts.
Training
For Defence Organisations
Practical training on circular design, critical raw materials and lifecycle material stewardship for procurement, engineering and lifecycle-management staff.
Why Circular Momentum
- Aerospace-native: founded by an aeronautical engineer whose design-for-assembly methodology, developed in collaboration with Airbus, demonstrated a 30% assembly-time reduction at concept stage.
- Inside the European defence circularity conversation: our founder was selected to lead the business case on Critical Raw Materials within IF CEED, the Incubation Forum on Circular Economy in European Defence hosted by the European Defence Agency.
- Quantitative by method: component-level disassembly and recovery modelling, published in 24 peer-reviewed publications – not qualitative scorecards.
- Independent and boutique: senior expertise directly on the work, with a specialist associate network for scale.
Insights
Critical Raw Materials in European Defence
We maintain an ongoing analysis of circular strategies for defence-critical materials – from content quantification to recovery and verification.
Request Our Latest AnalysisMaterials, Circularity, Supply Security
If these topics are on your agenda, let's talk – in person at sector events across Europe, or online.