Federal Charges Filed Against Former US Pilot Over China Training Allegations

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and flight instructor was arrested because he provided flight training, and possibly tactics (aka: “defense services”) to Chinese military forces.

65-year-old Gerald Eddie Brown Jr. had been charged “for providing and conspiring to provide defense services to Chinese military pilots without authorization, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).”

“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,” said the Department of Justice (DOJ).

DOJ added that Brown had worked with foreigners and Americans so that he could give combat aircraft training to Chinese air force soldiers for two years, “since at least in or around August 2023.”

Brown’s Air Force career lasted 24 years, where he led combat missions and “sensitive units” with responsibility for nuclear weapons delivery systems and served as a fighter pilot instructor and simulator instructor on a variety of fighter and attack aircraft.

He flew a range of jets, from the Vietnam-era jets to more modern F-15s and F-16s, according to the statement. After retirement, Brown flew commercial cargo aircraft before joining two U.S. defense contractors to work as an instructor in flight simulators, training U.S. pilots to fly the F-35 stealth fighter and A-10 attack jet.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense news from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

THE PDB  – Not the President’s Daily Briefing, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

Trump’s new 10% global tariffs have kicked off White House effort to preserve the president’s trade agenda after the Supreme Court rejected his original sweeping duties.

President Trump’s latest State of the Union speech is the longest since records began to be kept in the 1960s, when the advent of the television era saw them broadcast live to the nation.

The U.S. is soon to have the ability to deploy a new type of hypersonic missile that can be shot from fighters, bombers, ground-based launchers, and can even be fired from space.

The advanced F-47 sixth-generation fighter remains on track to fly in the next two years, as service continues its ambitious schedule to debut the air superiority fighter by 2028—only three years after the contract was awarded to Boeing in March 2025.

HOMELAND DEFENSE

Golden Dome to require unprecedented coordination between U.S. combatant commands (Space, Strategic, and Northern), which are already closely involved in Golden Dome planning.

DEFENSE POLITICS

War Secretary Pete Hegseth is appealing a judge’s order that blocks him from punishing Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy pilot, for participating in a video that called on troops to resist unspecified “unlawful orders.”

Disabled American Veterans’ top leader delivered a dire message to lawmakers, warning that continued shift of resources from the VA to the private sector risks “hollowing out the only health care system in the country that is purpose-built for veterans.”

Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard are working to equalize their members’ status and benefits with those of Active-Duty members when both serve in the same missions.

US POWER OVERSEAS

5 U.S. service members injured as military aircraft hits barrier on takeoff during training in the Philippines.

USAF “woefully behind” on modernizing mobility aircraft, airlift commander says. The leader is pushing for decades-old air transports and tankers to be replaced sooner than the late 2030s, as currently planned.

IRAN THREAT

Iran’s unwillingness to discuss its ballistic missile program with Washington is a “big problem” in talks aimed at averting American strikes on the Islamic Republic, Secretary of State Marco Rubio says.

The United States has flooded the Middle East with combat capabilities. A massive investment has already been made in airframe hours, manpower, and naval resources in preparation for what could be the biggest initial military action America has taken in more than 20 years. Such an operation is not without big risks.

MIDDLE EAST THREATS

Thousands of women and children related to suspected members of the jihadist Islamic State terror group escaped from al-Hol detention camp last month, after Kurdish forces responsible for overseeing the facility pulled out.

Report to Congress on Yemen and Red Sea security along the strategic Bab al Mandab Strait, one of the world’s most active shipping lanes. Since 2015, civil war has pitted Iran-backed Houthi terrorists against Yemen’s internationally recognized government, the government’s foreign backers, and other anti-Houthi forces.

CHINA THREAT

Traitor. Former U.S. Air Force F-35 fighter pilot arrested because he provided “defense services” to train Chinese military pilots.

How China is masking drone flights in a potential Taiwan rehearsal. A large Chinese military drone has conducted regular flights over the South China Sea in recent months while transmitting false transponder signals that made it appear to be other aircraft, including a sanctioned Belarusian cargo plane and a British Typhoon fighter jet.

RUSSIA THREAT/UKRAINE WAR

Ukrainian officials to meet Trump envoys in Geneva over more Russia talks.

EUROPEAN DEFENSE BUILDUP

NATO integrates air and surface drones in its latest major exercises in the Baltic and Mediterranean seas.

European defense spending increased at a record pace in 2025, outpacing Russian military outlays amid a broader slowdown in global expenditures on armed forces.

The foundations of the Atlantic alliance are shifting in ways not seen since the early days of the Cold War. Washington is no longer simply urging greater European burden-sharing: It is redefining the terms of the alliance itself.

NORTH KOREA THREAT

An emboldened Kim flaunts North Korean nuclear ambitions while leaving room for U.S. talks.

SPACE THREATS

Space Force is pausing all military launches on United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket as officials investigate a recent anomaly that could take “many months” to resolve.

US MILITARY

U.S. naval aviation fighters equipped with long-range air-to-air missiles and a B-2 stealth bomber held an integrated maritime strike exercise off California.

Ukraine is reshaping the armored battlefield. The U.S. Army is trying to keep up.

The Pentagon has published criteria for barracks and other unaccompanied housing that require all military services to meet the same standards for the first time.

Military bases must bolster natural disaster planning to mitigate risks. The Pentagon has not sufficiently tracked the cost of damages from extreme weather and natural disasters at military installations, hurting its ability to anticipate future disaster recovery needs.

The military is trying to shed “paper-based” triage systems. Even as modern conflicts show vulnerabilities of traditional battlefield medical care, U.S. medics are still relying on “analog, paper-based” triage systems to assess injured troops.

END of PDB

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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