Ex-RAF and Navy Top Gun Pilots Paid Hundreds of Thousands to Train Chinese Aviators

Former British Royal Air Force and Navy Top Gun pilots received hundreds of thousands of pounds to train Chinese military aviators on how to shoot down enemy aircraft.

The lucrative recruitment program used a South African flight school to circumvent Western national security barriers, according to the Daily Mail.

Six-Figure Recruitment Packages

At least 18 British aviators accepted contracts worth £250,000, which included luxury apartments, school fees, and free flights.

Six of these pilots taught advanced air combat skills, six instructed on submarine hunting, and six trained future Chinese test pilots.

The personnel traveled to remote military airbases in China, instructing the People's Liberation Army Air Force on how to outfox NATO aviators.

The training included mid-air combat maneuvers, bombing ground targets, and downing aircraft from more than 20 miles away.

Replicating Top Gun Tactics

The Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), based in Oudtshoorn, orchestrated the recruitment on behalf of the Chinese government.

The academy operated a fighter weapons instructor course modeled directly on the U.S. Navy Top Gun program.

Chinese pilots utilized the Shenyang J-11 fourth-generation fighter jet during the courses.

Western instructors taught air-to-air combat, air-to-ground strikes, defensive counter tactics, and radar-guided missile deployments targeting aircraft beyond visual range.

U.S. Sanctions and Security Loopholes

The U.S. government sanctioned TFASA in 2023, designating it a significant enabler of the transfer of NATO aviation expertise and restricted technology to the Chinese military.

Former U.S. Marine pilot Daniel Duggan currently faces extradition from Australia to the U.S. over related arms control violations.

British intelligence services MI5 and MI6 monitored the participating U.K. pilots. However, officials were initially powerless to intervene due to gaps in U.K. national security legislation.

The U.K. government issued a security alert in 2022 and subsequently passed the National Security Act in 2023 to criminalize unauthorized training of foreign militaries.

No British pilots have worked for the academy in China since November 2023.