Former US Air Force pilot charged with unauthorized Chinese military training

A former U.S. Air Force officer was arrested and charged for allegedly imparting unauthorized defense services to Chinese military pilots.

Gerald Eddie Brown Jr. was arrested Wednesday in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and charged in violation of the Arms Export Control Act, which provides the Secretary of State with the legal authority to control the export of defense articles and services, according to a Wednesday Justice Department statement.

“As an Air Force officer, Brown took an oath to defend our Nation against all enemies foreign and domestic,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in the statement.

“He allegedly broke that oath and betrayed the country, jeopardizing the safety of our servicemembers and allies,” Pirro continued.

Brown, also known by the call sign “Runner,” served in the Air Force for more than 24 years and retired with the rank of major in 1996, per the release. While in the service, Brown was a fighter pilot instructor and simulator instructor on a variety of fighter and attack aircraft such as the F-4 Phantom II, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and the A-10 Thunderbolt II.

After his time in the military, Brown worked as a commercial cargo pilot and a contract simulator instructor for U.S. defense contractors training U.S. military pilots on operating the A-10 and F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

Prosecutors allege that in August 2023, Brown began reworking his contracts’ terms to train pilots in the Chinese Air Force, known as the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, with the help of foreign nationals and co-conspirator Stephen Su Bin.

Brown did not contain the proper authorization from the State Department to give training to the Chinese military.

According to the statement, Su Bin is a Chinese national who was sentenced to almost four years in prison in 2016 for conspiring to hack into the computer networks of major U.S. defense contractors and steal military and export-controlled data for the People’s Republic of China.

“When U.S. persons — whether military or civilian — provide training to a foreign military, that activity is illegal unless they have a license from the State Department,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in the statement.

The complaint alleges that throughout his communications with Su Bin, Brown consistently stated his intent to train PRC military pilots in combat aircraft operations and listed in his resume that his objective was “instructor fighter pilot.”

The release says that Brown told a co-conspirator upon his arrival in China that, “Now…. I have the chance to fly and instruct fighter pilots again!”

Brown arrived in China in December 2023 to train the PRC military pilots, and on his first day, answered questions about the U.S. Air Force for three hours, according to the DOJ. Brown stayed in China until his return to the U.S. in early February 2026.

U.S. officials and other countries’ governments have long warned about the Chinese PLA’s continued targeting of current and former personnel from NATO nations and other Western countries to boost their own capabilities.

The release examines the resemblance between the charge against Brown and the one filed against U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Edmund Duggan in the District of Columbia in September 2017.

Duggan, like Brown, was charged in violation of the Arms Export Control Act. Duggan, a naturalized Australian citizen, was arrested in Australia in October 2022 and is currently pending extradition to the U.S. He is charged with using his military pilot training for “the benefit of the Chinese military” and trained Chinese pilots on the takeoff and landing on aircraft carriers, according to the statement.

“Once you fly on our team, even after you hang up your uniform, you have a responsibility to protect our tactics, techniques and procedures,” Gen. James B. Hecker, then-commander of NATO Allied Air Command and U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa, said in a February 2025 release. He further cautioned former service members to avoid employment with privately owned aviation companies that back the PRC.

Brown is expected to have his initial appearance in front of a magistrate judge Thursday in the Southern District of Indiana, according to the release.

The offices tasked with prosecution efforts is the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, with help from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana.