Former USAF fighter pilot arrested for training Chinese military

The United States (U.S.) Department of Justice (DOJ) has detained a former U.S. Air Force pilot for illegally training Chinese military pilots.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Counterintelligence and Espionage Division announced that former USAF Major Gerald Brown was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly betraying his country.

The accused, once known by his pilot’s call sign “Runner”, has been charged with providing and conspiring to provide defence services to Chinese military personnel without authorisation.

An FBI spokesperson Roman Rozhavsky accused the 65-year-old former F-35 Lightning II instructor of providing training to Chinese pilots to “fight against those he swore to protect.”

Rozhavsky said the arrest of Major Brown serves as a warning to China who continue to exploit the expertise of U.S. officials to modernise its military capabilities.

Brown, who served for 24 years in the USAF and had been involved with several sensitive units, including units linked to nuclear weapons delivery systems, is accused of travelling to China in December 2023 to train Chinese military pilots before returning to the U.S. in early February 2026.

The Justice Department stated that his contract with China was negotiated by a Chinese national who had already pleaded guilty in 2016 to hack a U.S. defence contractor.