Former Stealth Bomber Engineer Arrested for Spying for China
Another American has been charged with exporting military secrets to China. In 2005, Noshir Gowadia’s house was raided by FBI. Gowadia was born in India, and was intelligent enough to earn a Ph.D when he was only 15. During the 1960’s he came to the United States for post graduate work, eventually landing at the defense contractor Northrup in 1968. He then earned his citizenship in 1970. While at Northrup, Gowadia worked as a designer for the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.
According to prosecutors, Gowadia allegedly made six trips to China between 2003 and 2005. Also it appears that he attempted to prevent his trips to China from appearing on his passport.
While in Chengdu in 2003, Gowadia supposedly gave the Chinese secret information on missile exhaust systems. Chengdu is home to Chengdu Aircraft Industry Co. and their 611 Aircraft Design Institute, who built the Jianji-10 (J-10) fighter aircraft. Now the firms are working on the J-13 4th generation fighter, which is a larger, stealth version of the J-10.
In 2007, another defense contracor engineer named Chi Mak was convicted for conspiring to export submarine propulsion technology to China, and another was convicted for selling fighter pilot training software to the Chinese.
Gowadia’s case has been postponed numerous times as prosecutors wade through the mountains of classified evidence against him. He is facing 21 counts of conspiracy, money-laundering, and tax-related charges. His trial is currently set for January 21.