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Retired Air Force Major Charged With Illegally Training Chinese Military Pilots

Prosecutors say the alleged instruction violated export-control rules that require State Department authorization for defense services.

Overview

  • Gerald Eddie Brown Jr., 65, was arrested in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and charged under the Arms Export Control Act with providing and conspiring to provide defense services to Chinese military pilots.
  • The complaint alleges Brown began arranging the work around August 2023 and traveled to China in December 2023, remaining there until early February 2026.
  • Prosecutors say he spent hours answering questions about U.S. Air Force operations and delivered a presentation to People’s Liberation Army Air Force personnel at the outset of his time in China.
  • Brown is a retired Air Force major with more than 24 years of service who later worked as an instructor on platforms including the A-10 and the F-35 Lightning II.
  • The case cites negotiations involving intermediary Stephen Su Bin, a previously convicted hacker, and is being investigated by the FBI with AFOSI assistance and prosecuted by DOJ’s National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.