With his father facing at least life in prison and possibly the death penalty for allegedly selling military secrets to China, Ashton Gowadia calmly stated he isn't worried and that his father will be exonerated at trial.

Speaking after a federal court hearing yesterday, Gowadia said charges against his father, Noshir S. Gowadia of Maui, are "ridiculous" and "false."

"He's eager to go to trial," said Ashton Gowadia. "Why the court hasn't thrown out these charges is mind-boggling. What he was charged with is absolutely false. If the government really had a case, this thing would have gone to trial."

The elder Gowadia, 62, pleaded not guilty before U.S. magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang yesterday to charges that he took $110,000 from China in exchange for the technology to conceal a cruise missile's heat signature, a violation of the Arms Export Control Act.

His son said: "This man is a hero and risked his life for this country for 40 years. For him to risk it all for $110,000 is ridiculous. He's eager to go to court. There is a huge discrepancy between what is classified, what isn't and what is available in the public domain."

Gowadia, a design engineer who built the B-2 stealth bomber's propulsion system, also is charged with marketing his knowledge of stealth technology to Germany, Switzerland and Israel and willfully communicating national defense information to foreigners in an 18-count indictment handed down Wednesday.

His trial is set for July 10, 2007.

Gowadia might be eligible for the death penalty if federal prosecutors later determine that the alleged crimes fall under certain provisions of federal law. The U.S. attorney's office has not yet met to decide whether to seek the death penalty in the case, however.

Ashton Gowadia said his father was a professor who had extensive knowledge of stealth, or "low observable," technology and owned his own defense contracting company. Gowadia said his father consulted and shared information that is part of the public domain and not classified. He said his father stopped working on the stealth project in 1986, three years before the first test flight, and could not have gotten information about the aircraft if it was not already in the public domain.

He said his father's work was done with the knowledge of the United States government and aided by several large defense contractors, which he did not name, that were working with the U.S. government. Gowadia said his father is a patriot and a hero who worked on sensitive projects for the government for decades.

Gowadia yesterday spoke with his father, who has been held without bail at the Federal Detention Center since Oct. 26, 2005, and said he is in good spirits and eager to get on with his defense.

"Our family, we're patriotic Americans. We live and breathe and die for this country," he said. "He helped develop technology that will help save American lives in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Gowadia's attorney, David Klein, did not return a call seeking comment yesterday.

Assistant U.S. attorney Kenneth M. Sorenson, who is prosecuting the case with Robert E. Wallace Jr., a trial attorney in the counterespionage section of the U.S. Department of Justice, declined to comment on Ashton Gowadia's claims.

"The government intends to pursue these charges aggressively and intends to prove Mr. (Noshir) Gowadia guilty on every count beyond a reasonable doubt," he said.

Sorenson said the case would rely heavily on computer data and paper documents. The government is waiting for evidence from Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Australia, where Gowadia had incorporated businesses and kept bank accounts.

Gowadia allegedly provided "substantial defense-related services for the People's Republic of China by agreeing to design and later designing a low observable cruise missile exhaust system nozzle capable of rendering the missile less susceptible to detection and interception," according to the U.S. attorney's office.

A superseding indictment lists one count of conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act, one count of performing a defense service without obtaining approval from the U.S. Department of State, and three counts of willfully communicating classified national defense information to Chinese defense officials.

The indictment also includes four counts of money laundering connected to allegations that Gowadia disguised funds paid to him by the Chinese government for his services.

If convicted of the new charges, which supersede a six-count indictment against Gowadia handed down in October 2005, Gowadia faces up to life in prison or the death penalty "if certain statutory criteria are met" and fines totaling $250,000 and possible property forfeiture.

The case against Gowadia developed over the course of more than two years and was made by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"We are satisfied with the superseding indictment and commend the interagency efforts of all our partners in this investigation," said Pamela A. McCullough, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Honolulu division. "The FBI takes seriously all allegations pertaining to the distribution of classified national defense information to foreign governments and will investigate each instance to the fullest extent of the law."

Gowadia, a naturalized citizen who moved to the United States from Bombay, India, when he was 18, was an engineer with Northrop Corp. from 1968 to 1986 and was the chief designer of the B-2's infrared-suppressing pro-pulsion system, the federal government has said. The technology remains classified.

According to the 49-page indictment, Gowadia from January 2002 until January 2006 conspired with Chinese counterparts, including a member of the State Bureau of Foreign Experts, a government intelligence outfit.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.