A former United States Air Force officer and F-35 fighter pilot, Gerald Eddie Brown Jr, was arrested on Wednesday in Jeffersonville, Indiana, for allegedly providing unauthorised defence services to the Chinese military without legal permission, according to The Times of India.

Brown, 65 years old, was charged by a criminal complaint with both providing and conspiring to provide defence services to Chinese military pilots without authorisation, in violation of the US Arms Export Control Act (AECA), the report said.

He is expected to appear before a Magistrate Judge in the Southern District of Indiana on Thursday, February 26, the article states.

The arrest drew reactions from top U.S. law enforcement officials and highlights broader concerns about foreign governments trying to gain access to sensitive American military expertise and training, the report said.

FBI Director Kash Patel shared the arrest news on the social media platform X, saying,
“Major story… the FBI and our partners have arrested a former US Air Force Pilot who was allegedly training pilots in the Chinese military.”

Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division said, “Gerald Brown, a former F-35 Lightning II instructor pilot with decades of experience flying US military aircraft, allegedly betrayed his country by training Chinese pilots to fight against those he swore to protect.”

He also added, “The Chinese government continues to exploit the expertise of current and former members of the US armed forces to modernise China’s military capabilities. This arrest serves as a warning that the FBI and our partners will stop at nothing to hold accountable anyone who collaborates with our adversaries to harm our service members and jeopardise our national security.”

According to the article, Brown conspired since at least August 2023 with foreign nationals and U.S. persons to provide combat aircraft training to pilots in the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) — the air force of the Chinese military.

Officials said the training activity, if proven, would meet the definition of a “defence service” under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Because Brown is classified as a U.S. person under ITAR, he was required to obtain a license from the State Department’s Directorate of Defence Trade Controls (DDTC) before giving any training to foreign military personnel. Prosecutors say he did not have that required authorisation.

The Times of India article reported that in December 2023, Brown travelled to China to begin the training of PLAAF pilots. On his first day, he allegedly answered questions for three hours about the U.S. Air Force, and on his second day, he prepared and presented a personal briefing to the Chinese military.

He remained in China until he returned to the United States in early February 2026.

Investigators said Brown arranged his training contract with the help of a co-conspirator who negotiated with Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese national who was previously convicted in the United States in 2016 for hacking into major U.S. defence contractors and stealing sensitive military data for China. Su Bin was sentenced to nearly four years in prison, and his company was placed on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List in 2014.

The complaint also included direct messages showing Brown’s intentions. In a résumé he prepared, he listed his objective as “Instructor Fighter Pilot.” In one message, a co-conspirator told Brown he hoped Brown would be assigned to “my base, but otherwise you’ll go where is the local equivalent of the [US Air Force] Weapon School.” Brown later wrote,
“Now…. I have the chance to fly and instruct fighter pilots again!”

Brown served more than 24 years in the U.S. Air Force and retired from active duty in 1996 with the rank of Major, the report said. During his career, he commanded sensitive units responsible for nuclear weapons delivery systems, led combat missions, and served as both a fighter pilot and simulator instructor.

He flew several high-end aircraft, including F-4 “Phantom II”, F-15 “Eagle”, F-16 “Fighting Falcon” and A-10 “Thunderbolt II” (Warthog)

After leaving active duty, Brown worked as a commercial cargo pilot and later as a contract simulator instructor for U.S. defence contractors, training U.S. pilots on advanced aircraft such as the A-10 and the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

The article said the charges against Brown followed similar allegations filed against former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Edmund Duggan. In 2017, Duggan was charged with providing unauthorised defence services to Chinese military pilots and conspiracy to commit international money laundering.

Duggan was arrested in Australia in October 2022 and is currently awaiting extradition to the United States to face prosecution, the report said.