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.

Noshir Gowadia – The Indian behind US' B-2 stealth bomber

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.