Top secret data about US nuclear missile launches and missiles stolen by Chinese engineer, more than 3600…, related to next…
New Delhi: The history of military espionage between China and the US goes back a long time where the two world powers have accused each other of cyber espionage, theft of military technology and electronic surveillance. The series of allegations and counter allegations is a long one.
What does America accuse China of?
Now, in the latest instance, America has claimed that a missile engineer born in China has admitted to stealing American missile technology. This technology is related to detecting nuclear missile launches, tracking ballistic missiles and supersonic missiles.
The US Justice Department has said in a statement that a man from Santa Clara County and a former engineer of a Southern California company have pleaded guilty to charges of stealing classified information. This technology was used by the USA to detect nuclear missile launches, monitor ballistic and hypersonic missiles. With the help of this technology, American fighter planes used to detect missiles and also helped in neutralising them.
Who is the Chinese engineer accused of stealing US’ missile technology?
According to the report, Chenguang Gong, who has dual citizenship of China and America, transferred 3600 files from a research and development company in Los Angeles to his personal storage device last year.
In January 2023, the company that fell victim to Chenguang Gong’s fraud hired Gong as an integrated circuit design manager. Here Gong was responsible for the design, development and verification of infrared sensors. From March 30, 2023 until his dismissal on April 26, 2023, Gong transferred thousands of files from his workplace laptop to three personal storage devices.
What sensitive information did the files contain?
The files Gong transferred included several blueprints. These blueprints are related to space-based infrared sensors to detect nuclear missile launches and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. US agencies have seized some of these files from Gong’s temporary residence in Thousand Oaks.
Gong transferred files containing trade secrets related to next-generation sensors that could detect less visible targets and these sensors could stay in space for longer periods of time.
This also included blueprints for mechanical assemblies to cool and store the sensors. This information was among the most important trade secrets of the affected company, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Many of these files had markings such as “proprietary,” “official use only,” and “export controlled.”
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