Wenxia Man, a naturalized Chinese-American born in China, was sentenced to 50 months in prison in the U.S. for "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 ... China."

The U.S. Department of Justice said the 45 year-old Man of San Diego, California was convicted of the crime on June 9 for attempting to steal jet engines that power the stealthy F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, as well as the F-16 Flying Falcon jet fighters and the MQ-9 Reaper/Predator B Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

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DOJ prosecutors said evidence showed that between March 2011 and June 2013, Wenxia conspired with a contact named Zhang Xinsheng to send the equipment to China. She described Zhang as a "technology spy" that worked on behalf of the Chinese military.

Last May, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a report on military and security developments that said China is using extensive cyber and human espionage to acquire U.S. and foreign military technology.

She was also found to have tried to export a $50 million General Atomics drone to China, and technical data for the different hardware items

Wenxia's conviction is the latest in a continuing series of espionage cases in the U.S. involving spies working for the Chinese military or intelligence services. Last March, a Chinese man pleaded guilty to cyber spying on Boeing and other U.S. firms. He hacked into their networks to steal sensitive information he attempted to send to China.

The biggest stumbling block to modernizing the People's Liberation Army Air Force is China's inability to develop the sophisticated and high-powered engines necessary to power fifth generation stealth aircraft such as the F-22. China has allegedly tried to overcome this drawback by ramping-up espionage activities directed against U.S. aerospace firms and their contractors.

China's newest five-year development plan identifies domestic development and production of engines and planes as a major goal. China's failure to develop engines at par with the best of the outside world can be seen in data that shows engines accounted for 30 percent of all imports into China.

Russian analysts have said the shortage of engines remains an obstacle to the development of China's aviation industry.

TagsWenxia Man, U.S. Department of Justice, Zhang Xinsheng