Who is Noshir Gowadia? How India-born engineer in B-2 bomber project ended up as China spy

As Israel and Iran reached a fragile ceasefire, the impact of the U.S. B-2 stealth bombers—allegedly used to strike three Iranian nuclear enrichment sites—has drawn global attention. These powerful jets, capable of dropping 30,000-pound bombs, have once again demonstrated their strategic importance.

But what’s less known is the Indian connection to these advanced bombers.

Noshir Gowadia: The Indian Mind Behind the B-2 Stealth Bomber

Noshir Gowadia was born in 1944 in Bombay and was known as a quiet, soft-spoken engineer. Raised in a Parsi family, he was considered a child prodigy and is said to have earned a PhD by age 15.

He moved to the United States at 19 to study aeronautical engineering and became a U.S. citizen in 1969.

A year after becoming a U.S. citizen, Noshir Gowadia joined Northrop Corporation (now Northrop Grumman).

He joined at a time when the U.S. was looking to fix weaknesses exposed during the Vietnam War and the Yom Kippur War. The country had lost thousands of aircraft and needed a jet that could stay hidden from enemy detection.

Gowadia played a key role in solving that problem. Over two decades, he helped design the B-2 stealth bomber, focusing on its propulsion system to make sure its exhaust couldn't be detected by heat sensors or radar.

The B-2 stealth bomber could avoid detection, carry up to 40,000 pounds of bombs, and fly 10,000 nautical miles with just one refuelling.

Though Noshir Gowadia's work was once celebrated, fame eventually got to him, and he grew disillusioned. He was let go from Northrop in 1986 due to a rare blood disorder. Around that time, he bought a villa in Maui, Hawaii, taking on a heavy mortgage. With loan payments piling up, he soon found himself in need of money.

In 2003, Gowadia secretly began working with Chinese officials, making six trips to China under different names. He helped them design a stealth cruise missile exhaust nozzle, similar to the one he created for the B-2 bomber to reduce infrared and radar visibility.

Reports say he was paid $110,000 for his help, which he used to pay off his mortgage. But the large payment raised red flags with revenue authorities and shipping documents linked to him triggered an FBI investigation.

In October 2005, the FBI arrested Gowadia after finding 500 pounds of evidence in his Hawaii home—computers, blueprints, emails and USB drives full of classified information.

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After a nearly four-month trial in 2010, he was sentenced to 32 years in prison. While still behind bars today, his actions are believed to have given China a significant technological boost.