US Woman Convicted of Plot to Send Jet Engine, Drones,Tech Data to China

A US Court convicted a woman from San Diego, California of trying to send jet engines, drones and technical data to China, the US Justice Department said in a press release.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — She will be sentenced in August and can face up to 20 years behind bars.

"Wenxia Man… was convicted today by a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida of conspiring to export and cause the export of fighter jet engines, an unmanned aerial vehicle – commonly known as a drone – and related technical data to the People’s Republic of China, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act," the release stated on Thursday.

Man conspired with Xinsheng Zhang, who is located in China, to steal and send engines used in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, and the F-16 fighter jet, as well as an MQ-9 Reaper/Predator B Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, according to the release.

In the release, Homeland Security Investigators noted, that Man referred to Zhang, as a “technology spy” who worked on behalf of the Chinese military to copy items obtained from other countries.