A 62-year-old India-born engineer in Maui, Hawaii who worked on the B-2 stealth bomber has been charged with using secret military information to help China build a stealth cruise missile.
A federal grand jury has upgraded a former indictment against Noshir S Gowadia, originally charged with selling information involving the B-2 aircraft to three unnamed countries. He now additionally faces charges of assisting China with designing and testing an exhaust system nozzle that protects a cruise missile from detection.
Gowadia, a naturalised American citizen from India, has been slapped with an 18-count superseding indictment charging him with sharing secret military information with representatives of China to benefit Beijing or harm the United States.
"As charged in the superseding indictment, the defendant in this case attempted to profit from his know-how and his knowledge of sensitive military technology," Kenneth
Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division, has said.
"This case demonstrates that the Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute those who illegally transfer such information and services to foreign countries," he added.
Under the new charges, Gowadia faces the death penalty as also the possibility of life in prison and a fine of $250,000.
The prosecution has established that Gowadia made six trips to China to discuss, design and test the stealth cruise missile, along with secret e-mails with a representative of China's 'Foreign Experts Bureau.' He has also been charged with possessing classified military information and money laundering.
Media reports have it that the federal government has intention of acquiring Gowadia's property, which he allegedly bought with the money from money laundering.
Gowadia has worked 18 years for Northrop Corp, where he was an engineer and designed the B-2 stealth bomber's propulsion system and in November 2005 was charged with three counts of sharing secret military information. He has been in federal custody since the time of his arrest in October 2005.
Several federal agencies are involved in the investigation of the case, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Air Force and the Internal Revenue Service.