What lies upstream: Hidden risks undermining sovereign supply chains

Your supplier may be local. But what about their supplier? 

And their supplier’s supplier? 

Sovereign-sounding suppliers can still be vulnerable - especially when their inputs rely on single choke points for processing or refinement. 

Take Rare Earth Elements (REEs), for example. They’re essential for everything from radar systems to cockpit displays. Even when REEs are extracted in Africa, they’re still almost always processed in China - creating a strategic dependency many Procurement leaders can't immediately see. 

 That’s why Tier 1 visibility isn’t enough. 

Procurement pressure without full visibility

Procurement teams are being asked to improve speed-to-capability, boost resilience, and support sovereign capability, often without a complete picture of their supply chain ecosystem.  

And when blind spots become bottlenecks, the impact is real. 

In Spring 2025, China introduced new export restrictions on rare earth elements.  

The result? Scarcity, longer lead times, and a deeper scrutiny into subcontractor dependencies. 

So what can you do? 

You need visibility into upstream material risk and processing choke points - not just entity names on a spreadsheet. 

That’s where JOSCAR comes in. 

JOSCAR gives you validated, structured data on nearly 9,000 subcontractors across UK and Australian Defence, Aerospace and Security supply chains. 

This helps you go deeper than Tier 1 and act with confidence.  

When conflict broke in Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence turned to JOSCAR:  

What is JOSCAR?

JOSCAR is a platform built specifically for the Defence, Aerospace, and Security sectors, which provides you with primary validated supplier data for procurement, risk and compliance.  

The JOSCAR platform is used by regional groups called Communities which are each supported locally and tailored to national requirements. 

Community members collaborate in sharing knowledge, best practices and designing the questionnaire and product roadmap. 
 
This brings practical advantages for buyers: localised questionnaires, regional support teams, and a peer network of organisations facing the same challenges.  

Suppliers benefit from a consistent process across buyers, with the benefit of registering once and avoiding starting from scratch each time.   

How JOSCAR helps you spot upstream risk

1. See beyond Tier 1

JOSCAR captures structured data on subcontractors, not just Tier 1s — so you can map where critical materials are sourced and processed. If a supplier relies on sanctioned regions or single-source chokepoints, you can see it before its a problem. 

2. Stay in step with change

Supply chain risks shift quickly. JOSCAR buyers work together to respond - with new data points added to reflect real-world threats, like US tariffs and the Russia–Ukraine conflict. 

3. Monitor what matters

With automated alerts tied to suppliers you follow, you’ll know when sanctions or adverse media affect your exposure. Use dashboards and risk flags to brief leadership or spot early signals of disruption. 

Secure your supply chain

You’re not alone in facing these challenges - and you don’t need to solve them from scratch.  JOSCAR is already helping Defence buyers bring clarity to sub-tier risk and confidence to their category strategies.

Our report for CPOs offers practical ways to increase speed-to-capability, manage risk and reduce single points of failure - without overwhelming your team.

Read the report:
What Defence Buyers really need to build sovereign supply chains