DARPA SHIELD protects the defense supply chain from unauthorized and counterfeit components 

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Programs Agency (DARPA) sponsored SHIELD, a program to develop ‘Supply Chain Hardware Integrity for Electronics Defense’. Recycled and counterfeit electronic components present a critical risk in military systems and the defense supply chain. The goal of SHIELD is to develop an advanced authentication system to detect counterfeit electronic components anywhere in the supply chain.

RFID Global teamed with Northrop Grumman, who developed an encrypted, tamper-detection component called a dielet, to modify Visi-Trac to serve as the verification software authenticating the trustworthiness of electronic components. This system is designed to be able to detect recycled components sold as new; sub-standard components sold as high quality; parts marked with false dates of manufacture; low-quality clones and copies; unlicensed over-production of authorized components; and components covertly repackaged for unauthorized applications.