U.S.–China Military Relations

The Justice Department says former U.S. Air Force Major Gerald Brown, 65, was arrested in Indiana after returning from China, where he allegedly provided combat aircraft training to Chinese Air Force pilots without the State Department export license required under U.S. arms‑control law. Prosecutors say Brown, a 24‑year Air Force veteran who later instructed A‑10 and F‑35 pilots for U.S. defense contractors, began negotiating a training contract in August 2023 with Chinese national Stephen Su Bin, previously imprisoned in the U.S. for an espionage scheme involving defense contractors, and traveled to China in December 2023 to start the job. FBI Director Kash Patel publicly touted the case on social media, and DOJ’s national‑security chief John A. Eisenberg framed it as a betrayal of trust by an “elite fighter pilot” now accused of helping a rival power modernize its air force. An FBI counterintelligence official said the arrest is meant as a warning that the U.S. will pursue any current or former service members who collaborate with foreign militaries in ways that jeopardize American national security. The case fits a broader pattern of U.S. prosecutions targeting ex‑Western military aviators accused of selling tactical expertise to Beijing.