A former F-35 pilot in the U.S. Air Force with more than two decades of military experience has been arrested and charged with conspiring to assist in the training of Chinese military personnel.
As reported by CNN, Gerald Eddie Brown Jr., 65, was arrested in Jeffersonville, Indiana (USA), last Wednesday (25). Before retiring with the rank of major in 1996, Brown served 24 years in the U.S. Air Force.
He is now accused of violating the Arms Export Control Act by providing training to pilots of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
“Providing U.S. military training to our adversaries poses a significant threat to national security,” said Lee Russ, executive director of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, in a statement.
“During his military career, Brown commanded sensitive units responsible for nuclear weapons delivery systems, led combat missions, and served as a fighter pilot instructor and simulator instructor across a variety of fighter and attack aircraft.”
After retiring, Brown flew commercial cargo aircraft before joining two U.S. defense contractors as a flight simulator instructor, training American pilots to operate the stealth F-35 fighter and the A-10 attack jet.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s statement, Brown allegedly spent more than two years in China training pilots of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), traveling there in December 2023 and remaining until earlier this month.
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“Brown answered questions about the U.S. Air Force for three hours on his first day in the People’s Republic of China and then, on his second day, prepared and delivered a report about himself to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force,” the statement said.
After that, Brown allegedly began training Chinese military personnel. “Brown’s alleged betrayal exposed sensitive military tactics, threatening the security of our nation, our armed forces, and our allies,” said James Barnacle, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York office, according to CNN.
Through Brown’s training, China may have gained valuable insight into the U.S. Air Force, including the tactics F-35 pilots use to avoid detection in both offensive strike missions and air defense operations.
Peter Layton, an aviation analyst at the Griffith Asia Institute and former Royal Australian Air Force officer, suggested to CNN that it is possible Brown, as an instructor, was only training pilots in basic flight skills such as takeoffs, landings, and instrument flying, without revealing tactical information.
However, Carl Schuster, former director of operations at the U.S. Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said that even knowledge of these basic techniques could be useful to China.
“Instructor observations add context to technical information collected remotely and to open-source materials. It is possible to build a very complete and comprehensive picture by combining all of that,” he added.
Photo: Public domain. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
