Defence · second-source

Should you second-source this before one supplier can stop you?

A sole-source or foreign-controlled part — energetics, magnets, semiconductors — is one event away from halting a programme. The question is which one is worth the cost of a second source, and which can wait.

Settled as the Second-Source Evidence Pack

Bring us the decision Other decisions

The exposure

Some single points are cheap insurance to second-source; most aren’t worth the spend. The trouble is telling them apart without a traced, evidenced read of where you’re actually single-threaded — and what each dependency would really cost you to lose.

What the Second-Source Evidence Pack settles

Where you’re single-threaded — and what it would cost.

Where are you single-threaded?

The sole-source or foreign-controlled part one event could put out of reach — traced to the public record.

What would the dependency really cost?

The exposure you’d be carrying if it failed — so a second-source spend goes where it actually buys you resilience.

How sure are we?

Each finding graded against the published standard — a lock-state, never a score.

Typical reader: a procurement or operations director.

Why now

The dependency is paused, not removed.

China’s rare-earth and magnet controls — a licence wherever Chinese-origin heavy rare earths reach 0.1% of a part, military end-use refused — are suspended only until November 2026, not withdrawn. The dependency never left, and the UK–US critical-minerals memorandum has put it on the policy record. See what changed →

Should you second-source this before one supplier can stop you?

Where you’re single-threaded — and what it would cost.

The dependency is paused, not removed.

Name the part you can’t afford to lose.