Former U.S. Air Force Major Arrested On Allegations Of Training Chinese Military Pilots

A retired U.S. Air Force pilot who once trained American fighter crews has been arrested on charges that he later provided similar instruction to China’s military without U.S. government approval.

FBI Director Kash Patel said authorities arrested Gerald Eddie Brown Jr., 65 (call sign “Runner”), in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He is scheduled to appear in federal court in the Southern District of Indiana on February 26, 2026.

According to the complaint, beginning in or around August 2023, Brown arranged through an intermediary to train pilots from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). The intermediary communicated with Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese national who pleaded guilty in 2016 to conspiring to hack U.S. defense contractors and steal export-controlled military data.

Prosecutors say the training was classified as a defense service under U.S. export laws and required a State Department license, which they allege he did not obtain. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations views this unauthorized military training for foreign adversaries as a national security concern.

Brown spent more than two decades in the Air Force, retiring in 1996 as a Major. During his career, he flew and instructed on the F-4 Phantom II, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and A-10 Thunderbolt II. After leaving active duty, he worked as a commercial cargo pilot and later as a contract simulator instructor training U.S. pilots on the F-35 Lightning II and A-10.

According to court documents, Brown traveled to China in December 2023 and remained there until returning to the United States in early February 2026.

The case comes years after similar charges were filed against former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Edmund Duggan, who was accused of providing unauthorized training to Chinese military aviators and was arrested in Australia in 2022 pending extradition.

The investigation is being led by the FBI, with assistance from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Prosecutors from the Justice Department’s National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia are handling the case.

Brown is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.