Mainland immigrant conspired to smuggle Reaper drone and fighter jet engines to China, US jury finds
A California woman was convicted on Thursday by a federal jury in Florida of conspiring to illegally export fighter jet engines, a military drone and technical data on the weapons to China, the US Justice Department said.
Man Wenxia, 45, a Chinese immigrant who lived in San Diego, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for violating the Arms Export Control Act, the department said in a statement. The engines are used in F-35, F-22 and F-16 U.S. fighter jets; the Reaper drone is capable of firing Hellfire missiles through, it added.
Sentencing is set for August 19.
Man did not obtain the items and was caught in a sting operation when she met undercover federal agents she thought would help her make the illicit purchase.
The Lockheed Martin’s F-35, powered by Pratt and Whitney engines, is the most advanced strike fighter in the United States arsenal. The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, powered by a General Electric turbofan engine, has been in wide use against targets in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Libya.
According to the grand jury indictment filed on August 21, 2014, Man was a legal permanent resident of San Diego doing business as AFM Microelectronics, Inc.
It said she worked with Zhang Xinsheng, a resident of China who was “acting as an official agent for the procurement of arms, munitions, implements of war, and defence articles on behalf of that country”.
