A company that won a Taiwanese army drone contract is accused of building the aircraft from Chinese chips and flight boards while certifying them as Taiwan-made — bad for military supply chain trust, and now a criminal case.

• The Eighth Army Corps bought training drones last year; the winning bidder, Hangjian Technology, allegedly used Chinese-packaged chips and Chinese flight control boards.
• At the first check, the controller turned out to be a 3D-printed shell over a few circuit boards, and the same board was on sale on Chinese shopping site Taobao, openly listed as made in China.
• Chips were marked "CHN"; the company called it a serial number, and its paperwork claimed every part was made in Taiwan.
• On the second attempt some chips had been swapped for Philippine-packaged ones, but other markings had been sanded off to hide where they came from.
• The drones could not hit the required 100-metre control range, so the operator held the controller above their head to stretch the signal.

Outlook: The military has referred the case to prosecutors and the company's head is in detention without visitation, so expect a criminal prosecution and tighter checks on defence supply origins.