A new set of secret documents from former American intelligence analyst Edward Snowden confirms China stole top secret plans for American stealth fighters and bombers and did so beginning in 2007.

The revelation came from the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel that published a new set of documents provided by Snowden, who once worked for the U.S. National Security Agency. Snowden fled the U.S. and now lives in Russia.

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The latest tranche from Snowden reveals hackers working for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) stole top secret data about the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter jet from the aircraft's builder, Lockheed Martin. U.S. investigators gave the codename "Byzantine Hades" to the PLA hack attack campaign directed against the F-35 program.

The latest Snowden documents exposed the broad reach of China's espionage efforts against the F-35 and other advanced American military programs. This campaign, however, focused on acquiring the radar design of the F-35 and detailed engine plan, among other items. Chinese hackers are said to have stolen huge terabytes of data specific to the F-35 program.

U.S. security analysts said a specific PLA unit was responsible for the hack attacks against the F-35 program. This same unit was also successful in obtaining data about the F-22 stealth fighter jet, the B-2 stealth bomber, space-based lasers, missile navigation and tracking systems and nuclear submarine/anti-air missile designs.

The U.S. revealed China has been behind at least 30,000 hack attacks against the U.S. military. These cyber assaults caused 500 significant intrusions in systems operated by the U.S. Department of Defense and penetrated some 1,600 DoD computers.

The Chinese also compromised over 600,000 user accounts; 300,000 user ID/passwords and 33,000 U.S. Air Force officer records. Overall damage inflicted on the U.S. is estimated at more than US$100 million.