If rhenium was the bottleneck, there was no reason for DRDO to even try and develop SCB. Why did they even bother?
Also, USA does not have a veto on the world's Rhenium. We can get it from Chile, Peru or Kazakhstan. And even if they can block sales of Rhenium like they did to China, that does not mean they will block the sale to India as well. USA is trying to court us into its Anti-China alliance. Cutting off our Rhenium supply is the stupidest move they can make.
GoI is already working on strategies to obtain a secure supply of Rhenium. Its a strategic objective that the government recognises as well.
As for China, they have a Rhenium mine. They are making SCB using that.
You see, rhenium production in the world is about 50tons total, every year. So, in case world need to make 5000 engines a year, we won't be able to get rhenium as per requirement even if there is no sanctions. Rhenium is used not only in military engines but also by civilian engines like Boeing planes. Mind you, that older planes also have to be overhauled and engines replaced which also adds to the problems. Also, USA may be approaching India but they may as well backstab. There is no guarantee for friendship with USA.
Even if govt somehow manages to get rhenium, it is still better to be sure with engines that have abundant raw material than with raw material shortage. Even if some stores are lost in war, the engine production must not be stalled due to shortage. Just 50 ton production every year is a damn small quantity. Many other metals are produced in millions of tons a year to give a scale.
India made SCB in 1990s itself. India never made SCB for use in Kaveri. It was just a technology demonstrator and not intended for Kaveri.
Moreover, the requirement for SCB is only if India is aiming for TWR of over 9+. If India is happy with TWR of 8.5-9, there is no need for SCB. The additional cooling and better coating is enough to make the engine have TWR of 8.5+ with 2nd generation DS.
here is rhenium available in open market 250000/kg lol
https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/rhenium-15862386048.html
so sanction on rhenium seems impossible as this metal might have many no defense applications..
The total rhenium production is just 50tons annually. This is too low.
If the requirement per engine is 15kg rhenium. Even if the number of planes made each year is just 24 tejas and 24 AMCA, the number of engines needed will be 72, needing about 1ton rhenium every year. Now, there is always losses in manufacturing due to machining of blades, alloying etc. Hence, this will be about 1.5tons.
Now, if we consider requirement to overhaul another 48 planes, the rhenium requirement will go to 3tons. Overhauling planes is a common practice and is done after about 10 years of plane usage. Considering the tight market of rhenium, this normal production rate itself would be a major problem. Rhenium is also used in engines in civilian aircrafts, transport aircrafts and other industrial applications.
Now, if in war, India has to produce even 1000 engines, it will be a big deal to get rhenium
