Is that so? I recall the reading a piece on the SR-71 and it mentioned that the titanium was, ironically, sourced from the Soviet Union who supposedly were behind in titanium tech. Further, I remember a following tidbit about one of their jets still being made of steel because of their supposed lagging metallurgical skills. Have they since leapfrogged the US?
If you read the linked articles here it was exactly that attitude that allowed the US to tell itself that it was impossible that the Russians had the capability to make a Titanium sub for about a decade.