Former U.S. Air Force major arrested for training Chinese military pilots

A retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot who once trained American combat aviators has been arrested on charges that he secretly trained Chinese military pilots, according to federal prosecutors.

Gerald Eddie Brown Jr., 65, was arrested Wednesday in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and charged by criminal complaint in the District of Columbia with providing and conspiring to provide defense services to foreign nationals without a required State Department license, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors say Brown, a retired Air Force major who served more than 24 years, began conspiring in August 2023 to provide combat aircraft training to pilots in the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, the air arm of China’s military.

According to the complaint, Brown did not have the required license from the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.

Brown, who used the call sign “Runner,” commanded units responsible for nuclear weapons delivery systems during his military career and flew multiple U.S. fighter and attack aircraft, including the F-4 Phantom II, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and A-10 Thunderbolt II.

After retiring in 1996, he worked as a commercial cargo pilot and later as a contract simulator instructor for U.S. defense contractors, training American military pilots on the A-10 and the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

Prosecutors allege Brown worked through intermediaries to arrange a contract to train Chinese military pilots and communicated with a co-conspirator who negotiated with Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese national convicted in 2016 of hacking major U.S. defense contractors and stealing sensitive military data for the Chinese government.

In communications cited in the complaint, Brown allegedly described his objective as serving as an “Instructor Fighter Pilot” and expressed enthusiasm about training fighter pilots again.

In December 2023, prosecutors say, Brown traveled to China and remained there until returning to the United States in early February 2026.

The charges follow a similar case brought in 2017 against former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Edmund Duggan, who was accused of training Chinese military pilots without authorization. Duggan was arrested in Australia in 2022 and is awaiting extradition to the United States.

Brown Jr. is scheduled to make his initial court appearance Thursday in federal court in the Southern District of Indiana.