Latest news with #Gowadia
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Who is Noshir Gowadia, the India-born B-2 bomber project engineer turned Chinese spy?
As the United States' B-2 stealth bombers gain limelight following the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Indian-American Noshir S Gowadia's story from 2010 has also resurfaced. Noshir Gowadia had contributed to the development of the B-2 Spirit bomber's unique propulsion system and low observable capabilities.(X/@arctotherium42/Reuters) Gowadia, a former B-2 stealth bomber engineer, was found guilty of selling sensitive and classified defence information to China in 2010 by a US federal jury. Follow Iran Israel war live updates The former Northrop Grumman engineer, who helped design the B-2 stealth bomber, was also convicted of illegally communicating classified information three other times and unlawfully exporting technical information on those occasions, and filing false tax returns between 2001 and 2002. ALSO READ | What are B-2 Stealth Bombers and why US used it to target nuclear sites in Iran | Explained "Gowadia provided some of our country's most sensitive weapons-related designs to the Chinese government for money,' David Kris, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the time, had said. Gowadia, who was aged 66 in 2010, was sentenced to life imprisonment. "This prosecution should serve as a warning to others who would compromise our nation's military secrets for profit. I commend the many prosecutors, analysts, and agents --including those from the FBI and the Air Force -- who were responsible for this investigation and prosecution," Kris had said. How did Noshir Gowadia sell intel to China? Noshir Gowadia was first arrested in October 2005 for allegedly willfully communicating national defence information to a person not entitled to receive it. Additional charges were added to his name in 2005, 2006, and again in 2007. Gowadia worked for the Northrop Grumman Corporation from 1968 to 1986, contributing to the development of the B-2 Spirit bomber's unique propulsion system and low observable capabilities. ALSO READ | US B-2 bombers flew 37 hours non-stop, refueling mid-air to hit Iran nuclear sites Northrop Grumman produces the B-2 stealth bomber, which can only be flown by the US Air Force. Until 1997, the Indian-American engineer continued working on classified matters as a contractor with the US government. After that year, Gowadia's security clearance was terminated, HT had reported. However, Norish Gowadia went the other way when he took six trips to China from July 2003 to June 2005. During these visits, the engineer provided defence service-related information to China in the form of designs, test support and test data analysis of technologies. The US defence information was meant to help China with its cruise missile system by developing a stealth exhaust nozzle. Beijing paid Norish Gowadia at least US$110,000. ALSO READ | B-2 stealth bomber: How many bunker busters can it carry? Can it be detected? All FAQs answered A PowerPoint presentation on the exhaust nozzle of a Chinese cruise missile project, evaluation of a redesigned nozzle, and prediction of Gowadia's modified exhaust nozzle helped the jury convict him. Documents produced against the former engineer also included Gowadia's use of three foreign entities to mask the income he received from foreign countries. Additionally, Gowadia was also convicted of underreporting his income and falsely denying the use of foreign bank accounts for the 2001-2002 tax convictions.
Mint
an hour ago
- Business
- Mint
Who is Noshir Gowadia? Mumbai-born engineer built B-2 stealth bombers, later jailed for leaking information to China
As Israel and Iran reached a ceasefire deal, albeit volatile, the role of the United States' B-2 stealth bomber jets that reportedly wreaked havoc on three Iranian nuclear enrichment sites cannot be denied. As the world looks at the power of the fighter jets that are capable of dropping 30,000-pound bombs, here is the Indian connection B-2 stealth bomber planes. Born in 1944 in Bombay, Noshir Gowadia was often remembered as a soft-spoken engineer. Raised in a Parsi family, he was reported to be brilliant from a young age and said to have earned a PhD by the age of 15. Godiwala moved to the United States of America when he was just 19 to study aeronautical engineering and was naturalised as an American in 1969. Into a year after becoming an American citizen, he joined Northrop Corporation, now known as Northrop Grumman. Noshir Gowadia joined Northrop at a time when the US was trying to make amends to the vulnerabilities that had been exposed during its prolonged war with Vietnam and Yom Kippur. His skills came in useful as the US had lost thousands of aircraft and was in need of making a plane that could not be seen – and Gowadia delivered. He designed the B-2 stealth bombers, spending two decades to build the planes propulsion system so that its exhaust was invisibe to heat sensors and radars. The B-2 stealth bomber was capable of evading detection, dropping 40,000 pounds of explosives, and flying 10,000 nautical miles with single refuelling. While his work was celebrated, fame grew on Gowadia and he became disillusioned. However, he was let go by Northrop in 1986 due to a rare blood disorder, around which time he brought a villa in Maui, Hawaii, with a hefty mortgage. With his instalments looming around the corner, Gowadia was in need of cash soon. In 2003, he began a secret partnership with Chinese officials and travelled to the country six times using various aliases. His job was to help China build a stealth cruise missile by designing an exhaust nozzle that reduced infrared and radar signatures similar to the B-2s. According to reports, Gowadia received $110,000 for his support, which he used to pay off his loan. However, the large sum of money was flagged by revenue officials and the FBI began an investigation when shipping documents related to him raised suspicions. In October 2005, the FBI arrested Gowadia after they found 500 pounds of evidence in his Hawaii home, including computers, blueprints, emails, and thumb drives filled with sensitive data. After his near-four-month-long trial in 2010, Noshir Gowadia was sentenced to 32 years in prison. While he remains in jail till today, his contributions have since given China a technological edge.
NDTV
3 hours ago
- NDTV
How Indian-Origin Engineer, Who Worked On B-2 Stealth Bombers, Spied For China
At the height of the Cold War, the United States of America pioneered a technology that not only gave it a strategic advantage over its adversaries, but has helped it maintain its military superiority more than six decades hence. That technology - stealth - finds relavence even today. The B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, the world's most advanced aircraft, were used by the US in its Operation Midnight Hammer on Sunday to dismantle Iran's nuclear facilities amid Israeli claims that Tehran was on the verge of acquiring enriched uranium capable of developing a nuclear weapon. Even today, only three countries possess stealth capability - the United States, Russia, and China. While the US first developed stealth technology in 1958, Russia, then Soviet Union, took 17 more years to attain the capability in 1974. China got it nearly four decades later, when it tested the J-20 in 2011. While the US and Russia developed its own stealth technology, China reportedly got it through espionage - and that too from an Indian-American who was found guily of those charges in 2010. INDIAN-AMERICAN NOSHIR GOWADIA'S CONTRIBUTION Born in Mumbai, then Bombay, in 1944, Noshir Gowadia moved to the US in the early 1960s in pursuit of a higher education in aeronautical engineering. Excelling in his field, he got a job as a design engineer at Northrop Grumman - the defence company that makes the B-2 Stealth Bombers. His work, spanning decades, advanced the effectiveness of stealth technology. He made significant contributions to reducing the B-2 Spirit bombers' radar and infrared detection capabilities, as well as design factors to reduce its visual signatures. His contributions in the stealth aircraft's exhaust configurations and radar wave-absorbing materials were noteworthy. During his tenure, he also worked on projects to enhance the bomber's propultion system. But Gowadia's illustrious career and his reputation faced a blot more than a decade after his early retirement from Northrop Grumman in the late 1980s. Even after his retirement, he reportedly continued handling classified information and files as a contractor with the US Government till his security clearance was taken away in 1997. TRIPS TO CHINA He came under the scanner over his involvement with elements linked to China, and was found guilty on two counts of espionage in 2010. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison for leaking classified military data. According to a BBC report, during the investigation, it was revealed that Gowadia visited China several times in the early 2000s. The probe revealed that he received large sums of money, which he used to end his mortgage on a multi-million-dollar beachfront luxury villa in Hawaii's Maui island. The investigation and court proceedings against Gowadia began in 2005, when he was arrested shortly after his latest visit to China. According to the Associated Press, he was found guilty in 2010 for 14 out of the 17 charges he faced. He was convicted for espionage, conspiracy, and for violation of the United States Arms Export Control Act. Other charges included tax evasion and money laundering. NOT A TRAITOR? According to India Today, during the court proceedings, the defense counsel argued that Gowadia had only shared data that was available publicly and blamed the US government for over-classifying the material. They denied that Gowadia acted as a traitor and instead, said he was just an engineer who was aiming to advance aerospace technology, not harm the United States. The prosecution rubbished those arguments, saying that the data he shared undermines US national security by giving China access to classified military secrets about stealth technology. According to the US Air Force, investigations revealed that Gowadia had visited military facilities during his visits to China. He even visited a testing facility to identify design flaws and other technicalities like reducing heat signatures of stealth aircraft, while giving presentations and briefings about missile and exhaust features. An Associated Press report in 2010 stated that Gowadia had even designed a cruise missile component for China. He even demonstrated its simulated effectiveness by comparing it to American air-to-air missiles. 'A LESSON FOR OTHERS' Besides China, Gowadia also leaked top secret military information to Germany and Switzerland. Sentencing him to 32 years in prison in November 2010, it was noted that "Mr. Gowadia provided some of our country's most sensitive weapons-related designs to the Chinese government for money. Today, he is being held accountable for his actions," said Assistant Attorney General David Kris. "This prosecution should serve as a warning to others who would compromise our nation's military secrets for profit." Two months after his 2010 conviction, China, in January 2011, tested its first stealth aircraft - the J-10. Five years later, in 2016, China officially announced its long-distance stealth bomber - the H-20, which resembles the US B-2 Spirit Bomber. China has kept test flight information a top secret till date.
India Today
7 hours ago
- India Today
How India-born engineer in B-2 bomber project ended up as China spy
An India-born engineer, Noshir Sheriarji Gowadia, who played a key role in developing the stealth propulsion system of the B-2 Spirit bombers, deployed by the US in Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran, was later sentenced to 32 years in prison for leaking classified military data to China, which it used to develop a stealth exhaust system for its cruise missiles. Gowadia, born in Mumbai, migrated to the US from India in the from the Chinese government, Gowadia also sold classified design information to individuals in Germany, Israel, and to reports, the development of the H-20, China's long-range stealth bomber, was linked to information shared by Gowadia. Though the H-20 was first announced by Chinese officials in 2016, analysts reportedly believe its development began in the early 2000s, around the same time as Gowadia was active as a ENGINEER GOWADIA'S ROLE IN B-2 BOMBER PROJECT Gowadia, who worked as a design engineer for the Northrop Grumman Corporation, contributed to technologies that reduced the B-2 Spirit bombers' radar, infrared, and visual signatures, including innovative exhaust configurations and materials that absorbed radar efforts made the bomber aircraft exceptionally difficult to detect — comparable in radar visibility to a flying disc (frisbee). He also worked on various other propulsion was accused of travelling to China between 2003 and 2005 while designing the missile, according to a BBC indicate he received $110,000 (approximately Rs 91 lakh), which he used to pay off the mortgage on a luxury property in lengthy prosecution began with his arrest in 2005. According to the US Air Force website, in 2010, Gowadia was convicted of 14 out of 17 federal charges that included espionage, violation of the Arms Export Control Act, and several associated claimed that Gowadia's disclosures undermined US national security by giving China access to classified stealth technologies that could challenge American military defence claimed Gowadia shared only publicly available data and argued the government had overclassified the materials. They portrayed him not as a traitor, but as an engineer aiming to advance aerospace technology, not harm US GAVE MISSILE EXHAUST BRIEFINGS IN CHINA: US AIR FORCEDuring his trips to China, Gowadia visited an aeronautical testing facility to identify design flaws and technical deficiencies, in addition to providing briefings and presentations about the missile exhaust system and its heat signature, said the official US Air Force also showed he had provided top-secret information about the TH-98 Eurocopter to a foreign government official in Switzerland and sent other classified information to businesses in Germany and spent nearly two decades, from around 1968 to 1986, at Northrop Grumman, maker of the B-2 bomber. He became a US citizen on July 25, 1969, and continued handling classified government work as a contractor until his security clearance was revoked in was born in 1944 in Bombay (now Mumbai) and moved to the US in the summer of 1963 to study aeronautical engineering.- Ends
India.com
7 hours ago
- India.com
Iran Israel war: Man who helped develop B-2 Bomber was an Indian, but he is in jail now due to..., his name is..
Iran Israel war: Man who helped develop B-2 Bomber was an Indian, but he is in jail now due to..., his name is.. Iran Israel war: US recently used its B2 Spirit bombers to attack Iran's nuclear sites. This aircraft is also called stealth bombers. However, very few know that this aircraft has a connection with India. An Indian US citizen was also involved in making the propulsion system of this aircraft, who was later sentenced to 30 years in prison. His name is Noshir Gowadia. Noshir Gowadia is an engineer by profession. He was born in Mumbai and was sentenced to 32 years in prison for sharing classified military information with China. Through this, China had developed a cruise missile exhaust system to make its cruise missiles incapable of detection. Worked on the B2 Spirit bomber According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 81-year-old Gowadia was first arrested in October 2005 on the basis of a criminal complaint. He was accused of giving information related to national security. Information obtained during the trial revealed that Gowadia worked with the manufacturer of B2 bombers for about 20 years between 1968-1986. During this time he worked on the creation of unique propulsion systems and low observable capabilities of B2. He continued to work on classified matters with the US government until 1997. Sentenced to jail Evidence presented during the trial showed that Gowadia visited China six times between June 2003 and July 2005. During this period, he offered his defence services in China in the form of design, test support, test data analysis of technologies. The purpose of this was to help China develop stealthy nozzle and develop cruise missile systems. At the time of his arrest, Gowadia was paid at least $110,000 by China. Gowadia was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 32 years in prison in 2011. The Pentagon confirmed B-2 bombers were used in the attack, which came after days of rising tensions and a week of escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran. On Saturday, the US had repositioned B-2 bombers to the Pacific island of Guam.
