A former U.S Air Force officer and F-35 instructor pilot, Gerald Brown, has been arrested in Indiana for allegedly providing unauthorized military training to Chinese Air Force pilots.
In a statement dated February 26, Brown was charged under the Arms Export Control Act for conspiring since 2023 to train Chinese military aviators without obtaining the required license from the U.S. State Department.
“Former U.S. Air Force officer and F-35 instructor pilot Gerald Eddie Brown Jr. (65) has been arrested in Indiana for allegedly providing unauthorized military training to Chinese Air Force pilots, violating U.S. export and defense laws, federal prosecutors say,” read part of the statement.
Brown is expected to make his initial appearance before a Magistrate Judge in the Southern District of Indiana on February 26, 2026.
U.S Charges Gerald Brown with Training Chinese Pilots
According to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, the alleged training may have helped foreign pilots learn advanced tactics that could potentially be used against the United States.
“As an Air Force officer, Gerald Brown took an oath to defend our Nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic; he broke that oath and betrayed the country, jeopardizing the safety of our service members and allies,” said Pirro.
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She added that Gerald Brown would be held accountable to uphold the law and protect national security.
“We will hold Brown, and anyone conspiring against our Nation, accountable for their actions. The Department of Justice and my prosecutors are steadfast in our commitment to use every lawful tool available to keep American military expertise where it belongs, here in America,” said Jeanine Pirro.
In August 2023, Gerald Brown allegedly conspired with foreign nationals and U.S. persons to provide combat aircraft training to pilots in the Chinese Air Force, also known as the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
Although the training qualified as a defense service under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Brown allegedly lacked the required license from the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) to provide such training to foreign persons or foreign military units.
Gerald Eddie Brown, Former U.S Officer
Gerald Brown served for over 24 years in the U.S. Air Force, leaving active duty in 1996 with the rank of Major.
During his military career, he commanded sensitive units responsible for nuclear weapons delivery systems, led combat missions, and served as a fighter and simulator instructor on various fighter and attack aircraft.
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Gerald Brown later worked as a commercial cargo pilot and as a contract simulator instructor for two U.S. defense contractors, training U.S. military pilots to fly the A-10 and the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
However, in August 2023, he allegedly began arranging the terms of a contract to train Chinese military pilots, using a co-conspirator to negotiate with Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese national who in 2016 pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to hacking into major U.S. defense contractors and stealing sensitive military and export-controlled data for the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Su Bin was sentenced to nearly four years in prison, and his company, PRC Lode Technology Company, was added to the U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List in 2014.
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