A former U.S. Air Force pilot has been arrested and charged for allegedly providing unauthorized combat training to Chinese military aviators, the Department of Justice announced Feb. 25.
Gerald Eddie Brown Jr., 65, was taken into custody Wednesday in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and charged with violating the Arms Export Control Act, according to a DOJ statement.
Federal prosecutors allege that beginning in or around August 2023, Brown conspired with foreign nationals and U.S. persons to deliver combat aircraft training to pilots with the Chinese Air Force, formally known as the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
Authorities said the training constituted a defense service under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which requires prior authorization from the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls before such services may be provided to foreign military entities. Brown did not obtain the required license, the DOJ said.
Brown served more than 24 years in the U.S. Air Force before leaving active duty in 1996. During his military career, he led combat missions, commanded units responsible for overseeing nuclear weapons delivery systems, and served as both a pilot and simulator instructor for multiple aircraft platforms, including the F-15, F-16, and A-10.
Most recently, Brown worked as a simulator instructor for two defense contractors, training U.S. pilots to operate the F-35 and A-10 aircraft, according to prosecutors.
Investigators allege that Brown began negotiating terms in August 2023 to train Chinese military pilots and traveled to China in December 2023 to conduct the instruction. He remained there until early February 2026, when he returned to the United States, the DOJ said.
Brown is scheduled to make his initial appearance Feb. 26 before a magistrate judge in the Southern District of Indiana.
“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,” said Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.
“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 jeopardize our national security.”
Efforts to reach legal representation for Brown were unsuccessful.
The arrest comes amid a series of cases involving current and former U.S. military personnel accused of assisting Chinese interests.
Earlier this month, a German court sentenced a U.S. citizen identified as Martin D. to two years and eight months in prison for attempting to provide sensitive U.S. military information to Chinese intelligence while employed as a civilian at a U.S. military base in Germany.
In August, U.S. Navy sailor Wei Jinchao, 25, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, was convicted of espionage-related charges for selling sensitive information about U.S. warships to a Chinese intelligence officer. Prosecutors said he was recruited through social media.
The cases unfold against the backdrop of repeated warnings from U.S. intelligence agencies about China’s military ambitions.
In its March 2025 Annual Threat Assessment, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence described China as presenting the “most comprehensive and robust military threat to U.S. national security.”
Officials have also emphasized the strategic importance of the Indo-Pacific region, which is projected to account for more than half of the global economy in the coming years.
U.S. defense strategy documents state that maintaining a favorable balance of military power in the region is essential to safeguarding American economic and security interests, and to ensuring that no adversary can dominate the region to the detriment of the United States or its allies.
