The shifting threat landscape
Counterfeit electronic parts remain one of the most persistent integrity threats in defense supply chains. Obsolescence, long program lifecycles and a fragmented secondary market combine to create demand that legitimate suppliers cannot always meet.
This paper surveys recent enforcement actions, GIDEP alerts and academic literature to map how counterfeit pathways have shifted over the last five years.
Detection methodologies and their limits
We compare visual, electrical, decapsulation and provenance-based detection approaches. No single method is sufficient; layered programs that combine vendor controls with physical and analytical testing remain the most effective.
Emerging techniques — including on-die identifiers, blockchain-backed provenance and AI-assisted anomaly detection — are evaluated against real procurement constraints.
Governance gaps and recommendations
The largest residual risks are governance, not technology: unclear escalation paths, fragmented reporting between primes and subs, and inconsistent flow-down of SAE AS5553 and AS6081 requirements.
We propose a minimum governance baseline and a maturity scale that program offices and primes can use to evaluate their counterfeit risk posture.