A Chinese national has been sentenced to six months in federal custody after unlawfully photographing Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, home to the B-2 Spirit bomber fleet. The case centres on unauthorised imaging of one of the U.S. Air Force’s most sensitive strategic aviation sites, with sentencing handled in Kansas City by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill A. Morris.
The defendant had previously pleaded guilty in Salt Lake City to violating the Arms Export Control Act in a separate federal proceeding linked to attempts to obtain U.S.-made military equipment for export to China. Court reporting ties the photography case to aircraft and infrastructure at Whiteman and to related activity at military locations in Florida and Virginia.
The sentence closes a case that drew scrutiny from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Department of Justice amid wider U.S. concern over unauthorised surveillance around military aviation assets. The maximum exposure in the photography case had been one year in custody and a fine, but the court imposed a shorter custodial term.