Metro

‘Stealthy’ spy plan man is charged

A Chinese national was charged yesterday with illegally trying to procure large quantities of restricted high-tech carbon fiber from the United States to aid in the development of a new military stealth fighter jet in mainland China.

Brooklyn federal prosecutors say Ming Suan Zhang enlisted unnamed intermediaries in Taiwan to help buy thousands of pounds of the “aerospace grade” fiber, but instead unwittingly ended up dealing with a phony front business operated by undercover US Homeland Security and Commerce Department agents during a sting operation.

Carbon fiber is a highly coveted material used in enhancing the stealth capabilities of military aircraft, experts say.

“It is very effective at making a plane totally invisible to radar,” said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

In discussions with undercover federal agents, Zhang said he needed to obtain the carbon fiber for the “fighter plane” test that was scheduled for Oct. 5, prosecutors charged in court documents.

Two large spools of the fiber were shipped by an undercover federal agent from Brooklyn to an undisclosed meeting place, where Zhang was supposed to accept delivery, officials said.

In Brooklyn federal court yesterday, Zhang told a judge, “I am innocent.”

“He’s an honest businessman who was caught up in something he thought to be legal,” said defense attorney Daniel Nobel.

The arrest comes amid efforts by China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force to develop a twin-engine combat aircraft with advanced technologies that help deflect radar signals.

“They definitely want to get a stealth fighter,” said Hufbauer.

mmaddux@nypost.com