The Justice Department announced the arrest of 65-year-old Gerald Brown in Indiana following his recent return to the United States from China, where he had been residing since December 2023. According to the statement, he faces charges of conspiring with foreign nationals to train pilots in the Chinese air force on operating fighter jets without the required license from the U.S. State Department. FBI Director Kash Patel described the arrest as a “major story” on the social media platform X, noting that the FBI and its partners have apprehended a former U.S. Air Force pilot accused of training pilots for the Chinese military.
Brown served 24 years in the U.S. Air Force, during which he led sensitive units responsible for nuclear weapons delivery systems and trained fighter pilots on a variety of combat aircraft, according to the statement. The document indicated that Brown retired from the military in 1996 and initially worked as a cargo pilot before transitioning into a contractor role to train pilots on advanced fighter jets, including the F-35. It is alleged that he negotiated a training contract in August 2023 with Stephen Su Bing, a Chinese citizen who was imprisoned in the United States for four years starting in 2016 on espionage charges. Brown reportedly traveled to China in December 2023 to begin his training role.
Roman Rozhavsky, the official in charge of counterintelligence at the FBI, stated that the Chinese government continues to exploit the expertise of current and former U.S. military members to modernize its military capabilities. He added that this arrest serves as a warning to anyone who collaborates with adversaries to harm service members and endanger national security.
