U.S. intelligence officials have issued a stern warning to former American “Top Gun” pilots: “Don’t help China.”
A new threat bulletin published Wednesday warned that China’s People’s Liberation Army “continues to target” current and former Western fighter pilots to teach Chinese pilots how to master carrier takeoffs and landings, one of the most difficult maneuvers in aviation history. In some cases, the navy pilots may not even realize they are helping train Chinese military pilots.
The notice was issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and its closest intelligence partners, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The English-speaking allies are collectively known as the “Five Eyes.”
China’s military has struggled for decades to field an aircraft carrier fleet that could compete with the United States and project power across the world’s oceans. A big challenge has been training Chinese jet pilots to take off and land on short floating runways. But in recent years, Chinese military leaders have set up a series of shell companies operating in South Africa to recruit and pay former U.S. F-18 jet pilots to teach Chinese pilots more advanced maneuvers. Officials say such training violates U.S. export laws.
By agreeing to train with Chinese pilots, Western recruits “put their military colleagues at risk” and “may face legal consequences,” the bulletin warned. The Chinese military is already improving the skills of its fighter pilots, learning from Western aviation tactics, techniques and procedures.
The bulletin said the Chinese military has previously tried to recruit using personal acquaintances in the military, luring pilots with “lucrative contracts and the opportunity to fly exotic aircraft.” These offers sometimes obscure the fact that the Chinese military is the end customer for their expertise, the bulletin said. Former fighter pilots from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Britain and Australia have all been hired to train Chinese pilots.
Intelligence agencies hope that by sounding the alarm, they will deter fighter pilots from other Western countries from being tempted by the money and the chance to fly fighter jets again.
“To address its own shortcomings, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has aggressively recruited from Western military personnel to train its airmen, using private companies around the world who hide their ties to the PLA and pay exorbitant salaries to recruits,” said Michael C. Casey, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which works to prevent hostile powers from infiltrating U.S. intelligence agencies.
A former U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot named Daniel Duggan was arrested in Australia in 2022 on suspicion of violating export laws by training Chinese military pilots in South Africa how to land on aircraft carriers. Duggan denies the charges. On May 24, an Australian magistrate ruled that Duggan can be extradited to the United States to face charges.
