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The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the apprehension of a former Air Force fighter pilot suspected of training Chinese military personnel without proper authorization. Gerald Brown, aged 65, was taken into custody in Indiana after recently returning to the U.S. from China, where he had been since December 2023, according to a Justice Department statement.
He faces charges of conspiring with foreign nationals to provide combat aircraft training to Chinese Air Force pilots without obtaining the necessary license from the U.S. State Department. FBI Director Kash Patel shared on X that authorities have arrested a former U.S. Air Force pilot accused of training Chinese military pilots.
Brown’s military career spanned 24 years, during which he commanded sensitive units responsible for nuclear weapons delivery, led combat missions, and served as both a fighter pilot and simulator instructor across various aircraft types, including fighters and attack planes. He retired from active duty in 1996 and subsequently worked as a cargo pilot. Later, he took on a role as a U.S. defense contractor, where he trained pilots for the A-10 and advanced F-35 fighter jets.
According to authorities, Brown began negotiating a contract in August 2023 with Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese citizen who was imprisoned in the U.S. for four years starting in 2016 over another espionage-related case. Brown allegedly traveled to China in December 2023 to start his training work there.
FBI official Roman Rozhavsky commented that “the Chinese government continues to exploit the expertise of current and former U.S. military members to enhance its military capabilities.” He emphasized that the arrest highlights the FBI’s relentless efforts to hold accountable anyone collaborating with adversaries to threaten U.S. service members and national security.
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