{"id":13540,"date":"2026-02-26T03:02:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T03:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13540"},"modified":"2026-02-26T03:02:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T03:02:54","slug":"former-us-f-35-fighter-pilot-arrested-for-training-chinese-air-force-military-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13540","title":{"rendered":"Former US F-35 fighter pilot arrested for training Chinese air force | Military News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>US Justice Department accuses former Air Force officer Gerald Brown of training Chinese military pilots.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><button class=\"article-listen-container\" aria-labelledby=\"listen-text listen-duration\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-button\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-listen-container__text\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-text\">Listen to this article<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"article-listen-container__duration\">4 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><button tabindex=\"0\" class=\"tooltip-accessible_trigger\"><svg class=\"icon icon--info icon--main-grey-dark icon--16 listen-to-article-tooltip__icon\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><title>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>A former United States Air Force officer and \u201celite fighter pilot\u201d has been arrested and accused of betraying his country for illegally providing training to Chinese military pilots.<\/p>\n<p>The US Department of Justice said ex-Air Force Major Gerald Brown, once known by his pilot\u2019s call sign \u201cRunner\u201d, was arrested on Wednesday in Indiana and charged with a criminal complaint for providing and conspiring to provide defence services to Chinese pilots without authorisation.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Brown, 65, a former F-35 Lightning II instructor pilot with decades of experience in the Air Force, \u201callegedly betrayed his country by training Chinese pilots to fight against those he swore to protect\u201d, Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director at the FBI\u2019s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Chinese government continues to exploit the expertise of current and former members of the US armed forces to modernise China\u2019s military capabilities. This arrest serves as a warning,\u201d Rozhavsky said.<\/p>\n<p>US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro for the District of Columbia said Brown \u201cand anyone conspiring against our Nation\u201d will be held accountable for their actions.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Justice Department, Brown served in the US Air Force for 24 years, had led combat missions and was responsible for commanding \u201csensitive units\u201d, including those involved in nuclear weapons delivery systems.<\/p>\n<p>After leaving the US military in 1996, Brown worked as a commercial cargo pilot before working as a defence contractor training US pilots to fly F-35 and A-10 warplanes.<\/p>\n<p>Brown is alleged to have travelled to China in December 2023 to begin his work training Chinese pilots, and he remained in the country until returning to the US in early February 2026.<\/p>\n<p>His contract to train Chinese pilots was negotiated by Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese national who in 2016 pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison for conspiring to hack a defence contractor in the US to steal military secrets for China, according to the Justice Department.<\/p>\n<p>The department said Brown faces charges similar to those levelled against former US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan, who was arrested in Australia in 2022 and is currently fighting his extradition back to the US, where he faces prosecution for violating the US Arms Export Control Act for providing pilot training to the Chinese armed forces.<\/p>\n<p>Duggan appeared in an Australian court in October 2025 to appeal against his extradition, which was approved in December 2024 by Australia\u2019s then Attorney General Mark Dreyfus.<\/p>\n<p>Duggan, 57, a naturalised Australian citizen, was arrested by Australian police in 2022 shortly after returning from China, where he had lived since 2014.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Reuters news agency. Duggan\u2019s lawyer, Christopher Parkin, told the court that his client\u2019s extradition to the US was \u201cuncharted territory\u201d for Australia.<\/p>\n<p>He argued that his client\u2019s conduct was not an offence in Australia at the time or when the US requested extradition, and so did not meet the requirement for dual criminality in Australia\u2019s extradition treaty with the US.<\/p>\n<p>The governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the US published a notice in 2024 warning current and former members of their armed forces that China was seeking to recruit them and other NATO military personnel in order to harness Western military expertise and bolster its own capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe insight the PLA [People\u2019s Liberation Army] gains from Western military talent threatens the safety of the targeted recruits, their fellow service members, and US and allied security,\u201d the notice stated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose providing unauthorized training or expertise services to a foreign military can face civil and criminal penalties,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US Justice Department accuses former Air Force officer Gerald Brown of training Chinese military pilots. Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a04 mins info A former United States Air Force officer and \u201celite fighter pilot\u201d has been arrested and accused of betraying his country for illegally providing training to Chinese military pilots. The US Department of Justice said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}