US and allies say China is ‘aggressively recruiting’ their fighter pilots

The US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have jointly warned that China’s People’s Liberation Army is “aggressively recruiting” western fighter pilots in an effort to train its own military aviators.

The US National Counterintelligence and Security Center and its Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network partners issued the warning amid concerns that China is continuing to recruit current and former pilots from the US and Nato countries despite efforts to block the practice.

“To overcome their shortcomings, China’s PLA has been aggressively recruiting western military talent to train their aviators, using private firms around the globe that conceal their PLA ties and offer recruits exorbitant salaries,” said Michael Casey, NCSC director.

The concerns about western pilots training their PLA peers have intensified since revelations in 2022 that the Test Flying Academy of South Africa, a private school, had used more than two dozen retired British air force, navy and army pilots to help train Chinese military pilots.

Casey said the western partners had achieved some success recently in preventing recruitment, but that PLA efforts continued to “evolve in response”. He said the warning bulletin aimed to highlight the persistent threat and deter western pilots from helping China.

“For some former military pilots, the opportunity to fly exotic fighter jets again can be a draw, and even more so when accompanied by a fat salary,” said one US official.

The Five Eyes bulletin said recruiters for the PLA used “nefarious recruitment” methods that hid the involvement of China’s military. The recruiters were also targeting flight engineers, air operations centre staff and experts with insight into military tactics.

As part of the training, the PLA was trying to gain knowledge about state of the art western aircraft and tactics that might be used in, for example, a conflict over Taiwan.

The bulletin said the recruiters offered lucrative pay for work in China, South Africa and elsewhere. It said they approached targets in many ways, including via headhunters and professional networking sites.

But one US official said some former western fighter jet pilots had used reunions to urge their peers to get involved.

Since the discovery of TFASA’s role, Washington and its partners have taken several actions to make it harder for the Chinese military to recruit western pilots, which has been occurring since as early as 2012.

The US Department of Commerce has imposed sanctions on groups in China, Kenya, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, the UK and the United Arab Emirates, for allegedly engaging in recruitment efforts.

The bulletin said the Chinese military had responded to those efforts by incorporating entities under different names and in new locations.

In June 2023, the US commerce department imposed restrictions on TFASA. The South African flying school has accused the US of conducting an “unfair harassment” campaign that it says started in 2013 after it refused to provide information on its clients to the US government.

The UK has also updated its National Security Act to make it possible to prosecute former pilots for sharing certain military information. In January, Nato held a conference to consider ways to tackle the threat.

TFASA declined to comment on whether it was still providing training for Chinese pilots.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said it was “not aware” of the specifics. But it added that “countries should not generalise and abuse the concept of national security and smear relevant companies”.

It said: “Some US officials have been quick to accuse China and smear the normal exchanges and co-operation between China and the US, which is not conducive to the healthy development of China-US relations.”