The Hindu : Front Page : Indian-American engineer held

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 06, 2005

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Indian-American engineer held

New York: An Indian-American engineer, who helped develop the B-2 stealth bomber technology, has been arrested and charged with selling top secret information to eight ``foreign'' countries. Noshir Gowadia, 61, was arrested by the FBI in Maui, Hawaii, on Wednesday and is being held in the Federal Detention Centre in Honolulu.

His son, Ashton, who came to Hawaii for Mr. Gowadia's detention hearing, told reporters that the charges were the result of a ``misunderstanding'' and that his father was an ``American hero,'' whose work saved many lives.

Mr. Gowadia was a design engineer for Northrop Grumman Corp for 18 years till 1986 and he worked on development of B-2, which has the capability of avoiding detection by radar.

He has been charged with selling top-secret information to eight countries, which have not been identified but a section of the media suggested that China could be one.

Mr. Gowadia is accused of selling the critical ``infrared suppression'' technology, which allows the plane to dodge heat-seeking missiles. He allegedly faxed the details to a foreign country. The prosecutors allege that Mr. Gowadia travelled abroad to train foreign nationals using the secret information and that ``vast amounts'' of classified data were found on computer seized from his home.

Any ``hostile'' government which obtains such material will get an invaluable jump in developing a stealth aircraft of its own — or in countering the advantage the U.S. now has with its bombers — and that could affect the balance of power in that part of the world, prosecutors argue. — PTI

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