The problem Decentralized Defence Supply Chain System solves

India is taking substantial measures to boost local manufacturing in the defence sector. The country has allotted 68% of its defence budget to manufacture indigenous weapons and defence products. The backbone of the defence industry is the supply chain. Untracked and unregulated trade environments in the defence sector could potentially put the country’s national security at risk. The inefficiencies in the defence supply chain have slowed down the development of the defence manufacturing sector. It’s imperative to reduce the risks of weapon failures.

In the defence sector, counterfeit parts and weapons and hardware embedded with malicious software are posing a major problem. Keeping track of all the suppliers and stakeholders of the defence sector in a centralized database is vulnerable to cyberattacks. The records of all the defence contracts and transactions are scattered across the globe on various centralized computer systems.

It tracks all defence shipments and contracts using Ethereum based smart contracts. This is done by recording timestamps for every transaction made on blockchain. The transfer of ownership of a equipment or part is recorded with the timestamp of the transaction. The smart contract will contain the information of main defence equipment, type of equipment(spare parts, radar, fuel tanks, wires, metal sheets), model number or product number, raw materials, hardware and software required, date and timestamps of orders and details of all suppliers.

This project aims to reduce the risk of weapon failure. The blockchain
smart contracts will also ensure no counterfeit, illegally imported parts
and weapons with malicious code by unauthorized parties enter the
defence system by keeping track of all the transactions in the supply.
The data of all suppliers for all parts used in defence equipment, stored
in a decentralized system with quick access will simplify and speeds up
the repair and replacement process.

Challenges we ran into

Asset Tracking: One of the challenges raised by our mentors was the efficiency of tracking shipments and transactions. To increase the efficiency tenfold, we have implemented RFID tags into our blockchain. RFID tags, also known as Radio Frequency Identification tags, are some of the latest technology that the Indian army have been using, (first implemented in Feb 2022, inside ammunition of soldiers), and they are extremely efficent, they are trackable even below 15 ft below ground and can withstand extreme temperatures both hot and cold.

Privacy of Data: A major concern among the judges was if the data as sensitive as military data is secure enough to be stored on a decentralized supply chain. It was also raised that there were agencies that spend day and night, trying to track transactions that happen among the military, using which they are able to track the IP address. To resolve this, we are using mixers in our supply chain. Mixers mix up transactions creating pseudo-anonymity among the transactions. Mixers make sure the transactions that happen in the military do not stand out among all the other transactions that take place, thus protecting it from people who are trying to exploit this sensitive data.