(Bloomberg) -- Chinese intelligence officers and those under their direction, including hackers and “co-opted company insiders,” sought to steal commercial aviation technology in a campaign of computer intrusions that lasted more than five years, the U.S. Department of Justice said on its website.

Two Chinese spies working for the Jiangsu province arm of the Chinese Ministry of State Security are among those charged in the case. The goal of the operation was to steal intellectual property and confidential business data, including information related to a turbofan engine used in commercial airliners, the DOJ said.

The case comes amid increasing trade friction between the U.S. and China and follows on the heels of another case in which a Chinese intelligence official was extradited from Belgium and charged with conspiring to steal trade secrets from an Ohio aviation company earlier this month. A U.S. Army recruit was also indicted in September for working as an agent of a Chinese intelligence officer.

The turbofan engine in the new case was being developed through a partnership between a French aerospace manufacturer with an office in Suzhou in Jiangsu province and a company based in the U.S. The first alleged hack took place no later than January 2010, when members of the group infiltrated Capstone Turbine, a Los-Angeles-based gas turbine company, the department said in the statement.

‘Direct Threat’

The department named the two Chinese intelligence officials as Zha Rong and Chai Meng and listed the names of several other people suspected of involvement.

“State-sponsored hacking is a direct threat to our national security. This action is yet another example of criminal efforts by the MSS to facilitate the theft of private data for China’s commercial gain,” U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman was cited as saying in the statement. “The concerted effort to steal, rather than simply purchase, commercially available products should offend every company that invests talent, energy, and shareholder money into the development of products.”

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.