WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department announced on Wednesday the arrest of a former Air Force fighter pilot who allegedly trained 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, the Justice Department said.He is accused of conspiring with foreign nationals to provide combat aircraft training to pilots in the Chinese Air Force without the required license from the US State Department.
Brown had a 24-year career in the US Air Force during which he commanded sensitive units with responsibility for nuclear weapons delivery systems, led combat missions, and served as a fighter pilot instructor and simulator instructor on various fighter and attack aircraft. He retired from the military in 1996 and later worked as a cargo pilot. He subsequently served as a US defence contractor training pilots to fly the A-10 and F-35 fighter jets.
According to the statement, Brown began negotiating a contract in August 2023 with Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese national who previously served a four-year prison sentence in the United States over an espionage case. Brown allegedly travelled to China in December 2023 to begin the training job.
An FBI counterintelligence official said the Chinese government continues to seek the expertise of current and former US armed forces members to advance its military capabilities, adding that authorities would hold accountable those who collaborate in ways that jeopardise national security.
