A former U.S. Air Force pilot and officer with decades of flight experience is alleged by federal prosecutors to have provided and conspired to provide defense services to Chinese military pilots without authorization.
Gerald Eddie Brown, Jr., 65, known by the call sign “Runner,” was arrested Wednesday in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and criminally charged for the alleged violation of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA). The accusations date back to August 2023, according to the Department of Justice, when he allegedly conspired with foreign nationals and U.S. persons to provide combat aircraft training to pilots in the Chinese Air Force, also known as the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
Since Brown is a U.S. citizen and that particular training was a defense service conducted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, he lacked the required license from the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls to provide that training to foreign persons or foreign military units.
Brown was scheduled to appear before a magistrate judge in the Southern District of Indiana on Thursday.
“The United States Air Force trained Major Brown to be an elite fighter pilot and entrusted him with the defense of our Nation. He now stands charged with training Chinese military pilots,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in a statement. “When U.S. persons—whether military or civilian—provide training to a foreign military, that activity is illegal unless they have a license from the State Department.”
The National Security Division will use all tools at its disposal to protect our military advantages and hold to account those who would violate the AECA.
Brown reportedly served more than 24 years in the Air Force, holding the rank of major upon leaving active duty in 1996. He commanded sensitive units with responsibility for nuclear weapons delivery systems, led combat missions, and served as a fighter pilot instructor and simulator instructor on a variety of fighter and attack aircraft during his long career. Those fighter and attack aircraft included the F-4 “Phantom II,” F-15 “Eagle,” F-16 “Fighting Falcon,” and the A-10 “Thunderbolt II” (Warthog).
After leaving the service, he became a commercial cargo pilot and, most recently, a contract simulator instructor for two different U.S. defense contractors training U.S. military pilots on flying the A-10 and the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, according to the DOJ.
PRC Pilots Trained For Two Years
The criminal complaint alleges that in or around August 2023, Brown began arranging the terms of his contract to train Chinese military pilots by using a co-conspirator to negotiate with Stephen Su Bin, a Chinese national who in 2016 pled guilty in a California district court for conspiring to hack into the computer networks of major U.S. defense contractors and steal sensitive military and export-controlled data for the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Su Bin, who was sentenced to almost four years in prison, and his company PRC Lode Technology Company were added to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List in 2014.
Brown allegedly communicated to Su Bin that his intentions involved training PRC military pilots in combat aircraft operations. He’s also claimed to have submitted his own resume to PRC nationals, which included an “objective” to become an “Instructor Fighter Pilot.”
A co-conspirator is claimed to have told Brown that he hoped he would be assigned to “my base, but otherwise you’ll go where is the local equivalent as the [U.S. Air Force] Weapon School.”
Brown allegedly later replied to a co-conspirator, upon his arrival in China, the following: “Now….I have the chance to fly and instruct fighter pilots again!”
Shortly thereafter, in December 2023, is when Brown is said to have traveled to China to begin his efforts to train PRC military pilots. Brown allegedly answered U.S. Air Force-related questions for some three hours on his first day in China, with his second day involving a prepared brief about himself to the PLAAF.
The Air Force veteran remained in China for nearly two years, until he traveled back to the U.S. in early February 2026.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia said in a statement that Brown “broke” his oath to the U.S., adding that he “betrayed the country, jeopardizing the safety of our servicemembers and allies.”
Similar Case From A Decade Ago
Brown’s case in many ways mirrors criminal charges filed in September 2017 against ex-U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Edmund Duggan in the District of Columbia.
Duggan was charged with providing and conspiring to provide defense services to Chinese military pilots without authorization in violation of the AECA, as well as for conspiring to engage in international money laundering.
Duggan was alleged to have trained Chinese military pilots on the tactics, techniques and procedures associated with takeoff from and landing on an aircraft carrier. He was arrested in Australia in October 2022 and is currently pending extradition to the U.S.
These cases have been warned about, not just by the U.S. government but other nations as well.
In June 2024, a joint warning on behalf of the U.S., Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand was published, saying that “China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continues to target current and former military personnel from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations and other Western countries to help bolster the PLA’s capabilities.”
Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of NATO Allied Air Command and U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa in February 2025, provided his own advice: “Once you fly on our team, even after you hang up your uniform, you have a responsibility to protect our tactics, techniques and procedures.”
The case against Brown is being investigated by the FBI’s New York Field Office, with assistance from the FBI’s Louisville, Indianapolis and Los Angeles field offices. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations also provided assistance.
