Noshir Gowadia: From B-2 bomber engineer to convicted spy

Noshir Gowadia, the Indian-born aerospace engineer who helped design the B-2 stealth bomber, was sentenced to 32 years in prison in 2010.

Transcript

00:00This Indian origin man helped build the B-2 bomber aircraft, but he was sentenced to 32 years in prison.

00:05This is the story of Noshir Gowardia.

00:07Born in 1944, Bombay, Noshir moved to the US to study aeronautical engineering when he was 19.

00:12According to court records, Gowardia joined Northrop Grumman Corporation,

00:16the makers of the B-2 bomber, in 1968.

00:18He helped design the B-2 stealth bombers,

00:20spending two decades building the plane's propulsion system

00:23so that its exhaust was invisible to heat sensors and radars.

00:26Gowardia continued working at the company till 1986.

00:29However, Gowardia was accused of traveling to China between 2003 and 2005,

00:34where he allegedly shared sensitive defense information.

00:37Prosecutors claimed that Gowardia's disclosures undermined US national security

00:40by giving China access to classified stealth technologies.

00:44According to reports, Gowardia received $110,000 from China for this exchange.

00:49Despite his defense team's argument that he had only shared publicly available information,

00:53the jury remained unconvinced.

00:54After a near four-month-long trial in 2010,

00:57Naushir Gowardia was sentenced to 32 years in prison.