Noshir Gowadia, born in Mumbai, India, on April 11, 1944, is a former design engineer who became infamous for selling classified information to China and other countries. His story is a stark reminder of how trust can be weaponized. He moved to the United States in the early 1960s to pursue higher education in aeronautical engineering. He excelled in his field and eventually became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1969.
Gowadia joined Northrop Corporation (later Northrop Grumman) in November 1968. It was here that he made his most significant contributions, becoming one of the principal designers of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. He conceived and conceptually designed the B-2 bomber's entire propulsion system and even billed himself as the "father of the technology that protects the B-2 stealth bomber from heat-seeking missiles." Working under a project code-named Blueberry Milkshake, he spent nearly two decades shaping the B-2 Spirit's propulsion system. His focus was making the bomber’s exhaust invisible to radar and heat sensors. The B-2's radical flying-wing design and stealth features allowed it to evade detection, deliver 40,000 pounds of bombs, and fly 10,000 nautical miles with one refueling.
However, after being diagnosed with a rare blood disorder in 1986, Gowadia was forced to leave Northrop. He started a defense consulting firm in New Mexico, working on top-secret projects until his security clearance was revoked in 1997 following a contract dispute with DARPA. embittered by this experience, he felt he wasn't given due credit for his contributions. “I was one of the fathers of the U.S. Air Force Northrop B-2 Stealth Bomber,” he wrote to a relative.
Facing financial pressures, including hefty mortgage payments on a $3.5 million villa in Maui, Gowadia began a covert partnership with Chinese officials in 2003. Using aliases like “Catch a Monkey,” he made six trips to cities such as Chengdu and Shenzhen. His job: help China build a stealth cruise missile by designing an exhaust nozzle that reduced infrared and radar signatures—just like the B-2's. For these efforts, he was paid at least $110,000.
On October 13, 2005, federal agents raided Gowadia's mansion in Maui, Hawaii, and arrested him for selling America's military secrets to China. The trial began in Honolulu in 2010 and lasted nearly four months. Gowadia's lawyers argued that he shared only declassified information. However, U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway disagreed, stating, “He broke his oath of loyalty to the United States. He was found guilty of marketing valuable technology to foreign countries for personal gain.”
After six days of jury deliberation, Gowadia was convicted on 14 of 17 counts, including espionage, conspiracy, and violation of the Arms Export Control Act. Other charges included tax evasion and money laundering. On January 24, 2011, he was sentenced to 32 years in a maximum-security prison in Colorado.
Gowadia's actions have had lasting repercussions. Satellite images taken in May 2025 showed a new drone at China's Malan test base that looked almost identical to the B-2. Analysts believe this might be part of China's secretive H-20 program or a new high-altitude stealth drone. Its exhaust design and tailless silhouette mirror the Spirit's profile, leading experts to suspect that Gowadia's knowledge may have contributed to its development. Noshir Gowadia admitted in court, “What I did was espionage and treason.”
