According to an official 49-page indictment, Noshir Sheriarji Gowadia has allegedly conspired with Chinese counterparts and those of several other countries to sell secret airforce technology vital to US defense. Under detention since October 2005, Gowadia faces the prospect of lifelong imprisonment, if not death, if the investigation by the FBI, US Air Force Office of Special Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation Division, US Customs and Border Protection, and Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is accepted by the District Court of Hawaii. The case, currently set for hearing on July 10, 2007 with US Attorney Ken Sorenson leading the prosecution, has been written about in the international press and quoted in 10 pages of entries under Google.
Gowadia: in line of fire
A former design engineer at Northrop Corporation, Bombay born Gowadia, who migrated to the US at an early age and is now a naturalized US citizen, was involved in the creation of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber and has been accused of selling classified military information about the B-2 Spirit to foreign governments, including the People’s Republic of China, Israel, Germany, and Switzerland. He joined Northrop in November 1968, and continued to work there until April 1986. As a design engineer, Gowadia was reportedly "one of the principal designers” of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, who "conceived and conceptually designed the B-2 Bombers’ entire propulsion system” and billed himself as "the father of the technology that protects the B-2 stealth bomber from heat-seeking missiles.” He later worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In 1999, he founded N.S. Gowadia, Inc., his own consulting company, according to Wikipedia.com.
After being grilled by the authorities and searches of his home in Hawaii, Gowadia was imprisoned. According to the prosecution, the information mostly related to the B-2 project. They have charged that at least eight foreign countries were shown documents relating to the B-2’s stealth technology which keeps it off the radar of the places where the plane carries out its reconnoitering activity. His property may be siezed and the government is awaiting more
information regarding his bank accounts in other countries.
Originally charged with "willfully communicating, delivering or transmitting national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it, which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation” in the United States District Court in Maui, Hawaii, he has since been accused of helping to design stealth technology for Chinese missiles, and with money laundering
Although his affidavit is quoted to state "I disclosed classified information and material both verbally and in papers, computer presentations, letters and other methods to individuals in foreign countries with the knowledge that (the) information was classified...the reason I disclosed this classified information was to establish the technological credibility with the potential customers for future business. I wanted to help these countries to further their stealth aircraft protection systems. My personal gain would be business.”
However, his son Ashton Gowadia calmly stated he isn’t worried and that his father will be exonerated at trial, writes Peter Boylan in The Honolulu Advertiser (posted November 10, 2006).
Gowadia, 62, pleaded not guilty before U.S. magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang to charges that he took $110,000 from China in exchange for the technology to conceal a cruise missile’s heat signature, a violation of the Arms Export Control Act, reports Boylan. He also quotes Gowadia’s son as saying, "This man is a hero and risked his life for this country for 40 years. For him to risk it all for $110,000 is ridiculous. He’s eager to go to court. There is a huge discrepancy between what is classified, what isn’t and what is available in the public domain.”