China has been secretly recruiting former Western military pilots to improve its fighter pilot training. According to a new report, this includes former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots, some of whom previously trained at the US Navy’s Top Gun school.
Several former British RAF and Royal Navy pilots — some with “Top Gun”-level expertise — were recruited by China for thousands of pounds to train Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) pilots in advanced air combat skills, The Daily Mail reported.
The report claims that some of these ex-service personnel traveled to military airbases in isolated parts of China, where they taught Chinese pilots how to outmaneuver NATO pilots in mid-air combat, bomb strategic ground targets, and shoot down jets from distances of 20-25 miles (32-40 kilometers).
China recruited at least 18 British pilots to instruct the PLA Air Force (PLAAF), according to the report.
Of these, six pilots taught air combat skills, six taught submarine hunting methods, and six trained future Chinese test pilots. All of these pilots were allegedly lured with a £250,000 compensation package that included free airline trips, luxurious apartments, and school tuition, among other benefits.
Furthermore, Chinese test pilots were trained by former aviators who were instrumental in the development of the F-35B stealth jet—triggering concerns that Beijing may have acquired confidential military intelligence on the aircraft operated by the UK, the US, and several NATO states.
Interestingly, the report claims that Britain’s domestic security agency, MI5, and its foreign intelligence agency, MI6, were aware of these activities and were actively monitoring the sold-out aviators. However, they could not do anything about it because of a clear legal loophole in UK national security regulations that has now been closed.
While the report does not list the legal loopholes, it is widely known that there was no clear, enforceable prohibition or mechanism to prevent or punish the private-sector sharing of highly specialized military skills by ex-personnel. The UK government eventually strengthened measures via the National Security Act of 2023.
The publication also posted photos of three RAF pilots, identified as James Milmine, Sam Cowan, and Duncan Forbes, posing in front of a PLAAF J-11 fighter jet at an unnamed Chinese military base.
Sam Cowan is described as a former RAF pilot who had amassed more than 3,000 hours in fighter jets over a 17-year RAF career.
Meanwhile, Duncan Forbes is described as a former Typhoon pilot who also instructed US pilots at the US Navy’s iconic Top Gun training school in San Diego. Forbes allegedly trained Chinese PLA pilots on at least two fighter weapons instructor courses after leaving the RAF.
“What the pilots have done here, by going off to train a foreign air force that for decades we have said is one of our major adversaries, can only be described as touching on treason,” Colonel Philip Ingram, a former Army intelligence officer, stated. “It is disgusting. This is something they should be deeply ashamed of because what they are doing is putting future service personnel at risk and enabling a potential enemy to kill them.”
The report further alleges that the Communist regime recruited top British ex-pilots and aces from the US, Canada, Italy, and Germany through a flying school in South Africa.
The Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), located in the desert town of Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape of South Africa, was purportedly founded in 2003 with backing from the South African government “to facilitate cooperation with China,” the report states, citing US legal documents.
The establishment has been under US sanctions since 2023 for training Chinese pilots using American and NATO-sourced expertise. Britain has also stated that it would apply diplomatic pressure on South Africa to shut down TFASA.
In addition, the report states that six British nationals allegedly assisted in operating a test-pilot school in the northwest Chinese city of Guyuan, according to a TFASA insider. The program trained seasoned Chinese pilots to test future military helicopters and fast aircraft.
The air combat courses were first taught at Qiqihar Airport in Heilongjiang province in northern China, the report stated, citing people close to TFASA. The Western pilots relocated to a more secure military airport south of Beijing, close to Jinan, in 2019.
A Chinese spy named Stephan Su oversaw the training operation, the report claims. Stephan had earlier pleaded guilty to unauthorized access to sensitive US military data.
Additionally, British aviation experts assisted the Chinese in developing the Hongdu JL-10, a supersonic trainer at a base in Nanchang, central China, according to the report. One of the program’s participants told the Mail that he quit in 2017 as he grew “nervous” about some of the work TFASA was doing for the Chinese military.
Former service personnel may have compromised the national security of the United Kingdom and its allies by imparting crucial training and secrets regarding the F-35. In fact, the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) itself acknowledged in 2022 that about 30 former British military pilots were in China, instructing the Chinese air force on how to thwart Western aircraft, calling the practice a “threat to UK and Western interests.”
Moreover, the MoD also issued a “threat alert” warning current and former personnel not to consider such job offers.
China Has Been Poaching NATO Pilots
Earlier this year, the US Justice Department announced that it had arrested a former Air Force fighter pilot, Gerald Eddie Brown, Jr, also known by the call sign “Runner,” for training Chinese aviators without authorization.
He was arrested in Jeffersonville, Indiana, after reportedly returning to the US from China over allegations that he “conspired with foreign nationals to provide combat aircraft training to pilots in the Chinese PLA Air Force” without a required license from the US State Department.
Before Brown, the US government had framed charges against a former US Marine Corps (USMC) aviator, named Daniel Duggan, for training Chinese pilots. Duggan was arrested in Australia in 2022 for training Chinese pilots in sophisticated aircraft carrier landings at the TFASA between 2012 and 2012. He lost his appeal against extradition earlier this year.
Duggan was apparently lured by Beijing amid a dearth of skilled naval aviators in the country. For example, arrested landing requires an extremely high level of competence and skill because the pilot has to come in on full power and shut his engines as soon as he hooks up. If the pilot fails to hook on, he is expected to keep flying away from the flight deck. Only highly qualified and experienced Navy fighter pilots can land on an aircraft carrier, as a failed landing could prove fatal. This is exactly what Duggan taught PLA pilots.
The German newspaper Der Spiegel reported in 2023 that German Air Force officials had been using some companies in the Seychelles to train Chinese pilots.
In a similar vein, the “Five Eyes” partners—the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—described China’s recruitment activities as a “persistent” threat in a joint warning released in June 2024.
“The PLA seeks the skills and expertise of these individuals to enhance its military air operations while gaining insight into Western air tactics, techniques, and procedures. The insight the PLA gains from Western military talent threatens the safety of the targeted recruits, their fellow service members, and U.S. and allied security,” Michael Casey, the head of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, a division of the US intelligence agency, had said at the time.
In February 2024, a conference of NATO officials was held at Ramstein Air Base to discuss ways to counter China’s aggressive campaign to lure American and NATO military personnel into its fold.
Meanwhile, in February 2025, US Air Force leaders, including Gen. James B. Hecker, the USAF commander in Europe and NATO, issued fresh public warnings to current and former pilots about Chinese-backed private companies recruiting Western talent.
It is pertinent to note that China’s military has expanded rapidly in aircraft and hardware, but historically lagged in realistic, high-quality pilot training. Therefore, it seeks Western pilots with decades of real-world experience in complex maneuvers, air combat tactics, electronic warfare, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), carrier operations, and high-end training methods, which would be crucial in any future combat.
Additionally, the PLA gains knowledge of how Western air forces operate, train, and engage in combat through collaboration with former NATO members and other Western pilots. This helps China improve its doctrine, develop countermeasures, and possibly undermine Western advantages in a fight.
Western intelligence agencies have repeatedly stated that the most sought-after recruits are the NATO pilots, maintainers, air operations center personnel, and other technical experts from multiple occupations who could provide insight into US and NATO air tactics, techniques, and procedures.
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari13 (at) outlook.com
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