“He betrayed his country.” US Army F-35 fighter jet instructor caught training China's pilots
A Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft lands on the deck of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier on February 6, 2026. PHOTO: Pictorial Press, Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy / Profimedia
The US has arrested and indicted a former US Air Force fighter pilot for allegedly training China's military, the charges highlight Beijing's persistent efforts to modernize its armed forces by stealing US secrets, Reuters and CNN write.
Gerald Eddie Brown, Jr., a former F-35 Lightning II pilot and instructor who commanded sensitive units, including those responsible for nuclear weapons launch systems, was arrested Wednesday in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and charged with “providing and conspiring to provide” defense services to Chinese military pilots, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
He also flew a range of aircraft, from the Vietnam War-era F-4 Phantom to the more modern F-15 and F-16 models, according to the Justice Department statement.
After retirement, Brown flew commercial cargo planes before working for two U.S. defense contractors and working as a flight simulator instructor, training U.S. Airmen to fly the F-35 stealth fighter jet and the A-10 attack jet, the statement said.
Starting in August 2023, Brown began negotiating the terms of his contract to train pilots for the People's Liberation Army of China with Su Bin, a Chinese national who was sentenced to four years in US prison in 2016 for conspiring to hack into the computer networks of Boeing and other major US defense contractors.
Brown, 65, traveled to China in December 2023, staying there until returning to the US in February, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Brown “betrayed his country by training Chinese pilots to fight those he was sworn to protect,” said Roman Rozhavsky, deputy director of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the case.
President Donald Trump, who is due to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a visit to the country in the coming weeks, has sought to temper tensions in the ongoing trade war between the two global rivals.
Behind the détente in trade relations, however, is an escalating military and technological rivalry that many observers see as a new form of cold war.
The United States and allied countries have warned that Beijing is actively recruiting Western military personnel – active or in reserve – including dozens of pilots to train its People's Army to counter Western air combat tactics, often luring them with lucrative contracts and opportunities to fly exotic Chinese aircraft.
In 2023, the US Commerce Department placed under sanctions several companies in China, Kenya, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates for their role in recruiting Western military talent to train Chinese pilots.
