Aug 09, 2010

Ex-B-2 engineer guilty of helping China develop stealth cruise missile

06:49 PM

A former B-2 stealth bomber engineer has been convicted of helping China develop a cruise missile that can evade heat-seeking, air-to- air missiles. He sold the classified technology to pay for his luxury home in Hawaii.

A federal jury in Honolulu convicted Noshir Gowadia on 14 of 17 counts of selling classified materials, money laundering and tax evasion. He was also charged with attempting to sell classified stealth technology to the Swiss government and businesses in Israel and Germany. Jurors acquitted him of three minor espionage charges, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser says.

Prosecutors said the 66-year-old Gowadia, who helped develop the propulsion system for the B-2 when he worked for Northrup Corp. between 1968 and 1986, designed the exhaust nozzle for the cruise missile so he could pay the $15,000-a-month mortgage on a luxury home be built on Maui's north shore. Gowadia is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in India.

He has been in custody since being arrested in October 2005 because he was deemed a flight risk. A grand jury indicted him in November 2006.

Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 22.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... -missile/1