Retired fighter pilot taught Chinese airmen secret US tactics, feds say

A retired Air Force fighter pilot accused of teaching American tactics to Chinese airmen allegedly drove erratically to avoid an FBI tail, kept a fake passport, and deleted messages from foreign pilots to cover his tracks, according to recent filings in federal court.

The new documents shed light on Justice Department allegations that Gerald E. Brown, 65, sold state secrets to China between late 2023 and his arrest on Feb. 25. Messages included in the filings indicate he planned to retire in Asia after several years on a $250,000 annual salary teaching Chinese military pilots, which he also hoped would give him a chance of “going fast again and pulling g’s.”

The retired pilot, who worked on an F-35 simulator program in the U.S. before moving to China, is accused of betraying secrets that included U.S dogfighting techniques and tactics to suppress air defenses. From a People’s Liberation Army Air Force base in northern China, Brown taught local pilots, held briefings on U.S. capabilities, and eventually helped spy on American airmen in South Korea, according to prosecutors.

Brown was recently released from a U.S. jail on a $200,000 bond and placed under house arrest, including GPS and video surveillance, at his sister’s home in Minnesota, according to April 23 filings in federal court in Washington, D.C. His federal public defender, Courtney Millian, did not return a request for comment.

Contact with Chinese agents

Brown, whose pilot callsign was “Runner,” left the Air Force in 2007 after a 24-year career. He eventually sought work in China after being fired from two post-retirement jobs in U.S. aviation, according to court records.

He was first terminated from a flying job with UPS, prosecutors said, “due to a complaint that he caused a physical altercation in 2016 while in the cockpit” mid-flight. He later worked as an F-35 simulator instructor for a defense contractor, but was fired in 2023 after a commander’s inquiry found he had sexually harassed female airmen.

In late 2023, eager to fund his dream of retiring overseas, Brown allegedly turned to Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese businessman whom Brown characterized as a “master spy,” according to prosecutors’ filings opposing his release on bail.

Brown was allegedly paid more than $18,000 per month — plus benefits, including a Thailand vacation — after going to work for the Chinese company Stratos Aviation. U.S. intelligence has accused the business of hiring Western and NATO pilots to exploit their tactical knowledge.

Brown was motivated in part by a desire to get behind the controls of a fighter jet one last time, court filings show. In encrypted messages obtained by the FBI, Brown initially offered to serve as a simulated adversary, known as “Red Air,” for Chinese pilots, a role that would put him back in a cockpit.

“I have been researching the jets, J-11 is awesome!! Watched a J-10 interception on a Canadian airplane,” Brown wrote to one of Su Bin’s other pilots, according to an FBI affidavit. “I cannot stop thinking about flying.”

Brown was arrested in late February, weeks after returning to the United States in an apparent bid to sell a condo he owned in Indiana. He allegedly lied to U.S. customs that he had been working overseas as a commercial airline consultant.

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Though Brown never flew an F-35 during his Air Force career, his role running the simulator would have made him privy to the same closely guarded secrets as the pilots of those 5th-generation stealth fighters.

“This guy held the ‘keys to the jet,’” said John “Rain” Waters, a retired F-16 pilot who hosts the Afterburn podcast.

A former fighter pilot and simulator instructor could demystify Western behavior in ways surveillance alone cannot, he added.

“Everyone’s always observing everyone else, but sometimes you don’t get the full picture or you misinterpret,” Waters said. “So him being in there and actually being able to teach and talk through their tactics and give them feedback, I think is pretty significant.”

‘Brother. Don’t reply.’

In China, Brown worked at a major PLAAF training base in Shijiazhuang, southwest of Beijing, and taught courses on electronic warfare and how to suppress enemy air defenses. However, his alleged activities on China’s behalf weren’t limited to teaching.

In May 2024, Brown traveled to South Korea, where he had previously worked as an A-10 simulator instructor, to meet with U.S. Air Force personnel and furtively collect documents that Chinese military intelligence wanted to read, according to prosecutors. When he returned to China, Brown was debriefed by Chinese officials and turned over his electronic devices for them to exploit, prosecutors said.

Brown was also allegedly aware that Stratos was being watched by U.S. authorities. One of his colleagues in China was a former Ecuadorian Air Force pilot who, after being contacted by the FBI, urged Brown to delete texts between the two of them on the messaging app Threema.

“Brother. Don’t reply. I will contact you soon. Delete me here and WeChat also. We’ll talk later,” the unnamed Ecuadorian pilot allegedly told Brown in January 2024.

In arguing against his release on bail, prosecutors said FBI agents who surveilled Brown before his Feb. 25 arrest suspected he intended to return to China after tying up loose ends in the States, including renovating his condo to prepare it to go on the market.

The FBI agents monitoring Brown said he drove in erratic patterns when he appeared to suspect he was being tailed. And after his arrest, agents executed a search warrant on Brown’s home and said they found fake currency and a fake passport in his office.

Prosecutors argued that Brown might try to flee house arrest, citing the tradecraft he appeared to have picked up and his past comments about returning to China to work for several more years.

“I hope the program continues for at least 5 years and then I will retire in China or Thailand or Vietnam,” Brown allegedly wrote in one encrypted message between him and another Stratos pilot. “All I care about now is going fast again and pulling g’s.”

Brown was charged with violating the Arms Export Control Act and “faces a substantial prison sentence of at least 6-8 years,” prosecutors said in court filings.