A former engineer at a Southern California company pleaded guilty to stealing the blueprints of missile tracking systems used by the U.S. military. 

In his agreement to plead guilty to one count of theft of trade secrets, Chenguang Gong admitted to transferring more than 3,600 files from the Los Angeles-area research and development company where he had briefly worked to his personal storage devices, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29. 

The Justice Department said the files included blueprints for space-based systems designed to detect nuclear missile launches and to track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. The files also included blueprints for sensors designed to enable U.S military aircraft to detect incoming missiles.

Federal prosecutors said the company hired Gong as a manager responsible for designing, developing and verifying the sensors in January 2023. He began transferring files from his work laptop to his three personal hard drives on March 30, 2023, and continued until he was fired nearly a month later, according to the DOJ. About 1,800 files were downloaded after he had accepted a job with one of the company's competitors, according to federal prosecutors. 

The files also included plans for sensors designed to detect "low observable targets," an industry term that includes stealth aircraft, drones and radar-evading cruise missiles.

Investigators also claimed that between 2014 and 2022, Gong submitted numerous proposals to "Talent Programs" created by the Chinese government. The Justice Department stated that some of the plans he submitted to the Chinese government included designs from defense contractors that employed him.