"Steve Mellenthin" wrote in message
...
little use for titanium. Do anybody know the
reason?
whats really funnny is that the Titanium that was used to build the
SR-71 was exported from the then Soviet Union.

Russia has 75% of the world's supply of titanuim ore. We have been buying
processed TI "sponge" from them since the 60s in spite of the cold war.


One anecdotical memory from soviet time (i live in Estonia). Hard to belive,
but it is true. There was a hughe soviet military plant in Tallinn,
Dvigatel. Part of it was targeted on titanium structures. This times Kavor
Works in Tallinn was the sole distributor of formula racing cars in Soviet
Bloc. Cars went out of works with steel shafts etc parts, but teams taking
racing seriously get the same stuff in titanium from Dvigatel for relatively
small bribe.

Best,
Vello