WASHINGTON: The United States Department of Justice has announced the arrest of a former US Air Force fighter pilot accused of training Chinese military personnel without authorisation.
Gerald Brown, 65, was arrested in Indiana after recently returning to the United States from China, where he had been since December 2023, according to an official statement.
He is accused of conspiring with foreign nationals to provide combat aircraft training to pilots in the Chinese Air Force without obtaining the required licence from the United States Department of State.
Kash Patel, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said in a post on X that the agency and its partners had arrested a former US Air Force pilot allegedly involved in training Chinese military pilots.
According to the Justice Department, Brown had a 24-year career in the US Air Force, during which he commanded sensitive units responsible for nuclear weapons delivery systems, led combat missions and served as a fighter pilot and simulator instructor on various aircraft.
After retiring from the military in 1996, he worked as a cargo pilot before later serving as a US defence contractor training pilots to operate A-10 and advanced F-35 fighter jets.
Authorities allege that in August 2023, Brown began negotiating a contract with Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese national who previously served a four-year prison sentence in the United States beginning in 2016 in connection with an espionage case. Brown allegedly travelled to China in December 2023 to begin the training role.
Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division said the Chinese government continues to seek expertise from current and former US armed forces members to modernise its military capabilities.
He added that the arrest should serve as a warning that authorities would hold accountable anyone collaborating with adversaries in ways that could harm US service members or jeopardise national security.
