FILE - Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, a fifth generation fighter jet during a flight demonstration at Paris Air Show 2025 at Le Bourget Airport. (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A former U.S. Air Force officer has been charged with training Chinese military pilots "to fight against those he swore to protect," according to the Justice Department.
Gerald Eddie Brown Jr., 65, was arrested in Jeffersonville, Indiana, on Wednesday. He has been charged with providing and conspiring to provide defense services to Chinese military pilots without authorization, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).
What is Gerald Brown Jr. accused of?
The backstory:
According to federal prosecutors, Brown started communicating with Chinese nationals in August 2023. He reportedly used a liaison to negotiate with Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese national who pleaded guilty in 2016 to conspiring to hack into the computer networks of major U.S. defense contractors and steal sensitive military data for the People’s Republic of China. Su Bin was sentenced to nearly four years in prison.
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Investigators said Brown repeatedly stated his intent to train Chinese military pilots while communicating with his co-conspirators. When he arrived in China, he reportedly said, "Now…. I have the chance to fly and instruct fighter pilots again!"
Brown, who held the rank of major, served for over 24 years in the U.S. Air Force, leaving active duty in 1996. The Justice Department says Brown commanded "sensitive units with responsibility for nuclear weapons delivery systems, led combat missions, and served as a fighter pilot instructor and simulator instructor on a variety of fighter and attack aircraft."
After leaving active duty, Brown became a commercial cargo pilot , then later worked as a contract simulator instructor for two different U.S. defense contractors training U.S. military pilots.
‘Betrayed his country’
What they're saying:
Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, said Brown not only betrayed his country, but his arrest points to larger problem: "The Chinese government continues to exploit the expertise of current and former members of the U.S. armed forces to modernize China’s military capabilities."
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"As an Air Force officer, Brown took an oath to defend our nation against all enemies foreign and domestic," Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement. "He broke that oath, and betrayed the country, jeopardizing the safety of our servicemembers and allies."
What's next:
Brown is expected to make an initial appearance before a federal magistrate judge in Indiana on Feb. 26.
The Source: This report includes information from the U.S. Justice Department.