A study recently completed by the U.S. specialty metals industry establishes that domestic production and availability of high technology specialty metals are critical to national defense, but forewarns the loss of this industry without government intervention.The Specialty Steel Industry of North America, who conducted the study, cautions that should specialty steel capability be lost, so too will our ability to create new defense-related technology. Specialty metals are extremely important to virtually every military platform, and are used in missiles, jet aircraft, submarines, helicopters, and munitions, to name but a few applications. To combat the problem, the report advocates the creation of a U.S. industrial policy that provides incentives to invest in U.S. manufacturing, but which also supports the principles of free and fair trade. The complete report, including a partial list of defense-related specialty metals applications, can be found at SSINA's website.www.ssina.comInfo # 246