HONOLULU, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A federal jury in Hawaii convicted a former high-level aerospace engineer of espionage for providing classified U.S. military data to China.
Noshir Gowadia, 66, of Haiku, faces life in prison when he is sentenced later this year on convictions for tax evasion and money laundering along with the espionage charge, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser said Tuesday.
Gowadia was a private defense consultant who worked for Northrop Grumman from 1967 to 1986. Gowadia said at the time Northrop received the contract for the highly secret B-2 stealth bomber that he had developed the conceptual design for the plane.
The charges against Gowadia involved his expertise in shielding the B-2 and cruise missiles from detection by infrared guided missiles. His knowledge allowed China to design a rocket exhaust that made its cruise missiles better able to evade air-to-air missiles, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors contended that Gowadia was paid about $84,000 by the Chinese. His contracting business, however, produced revenues that were deposited in Switzerland and doled out in amounts just high enough to finance a plush home in Maui while keeping his tax liabilities down.
