A freshly issued indictment from US courts allege that an American pilot, Major Daniel Edmond Duggan from the US Marine Corps is guilty for attempting to steal a T-2 Buckeye aircraft for Chinese aviation firm AVIBIZ Limited, based in Qingdao, China. The retired Av-88 Harrier pilot is also accused of training PLAAF pilots and PLAN pilots. Before moving to China and taking up the role of Managing Director of AVIBIZ Limited, Major Duggan was an instructor pilot in the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) where he routinely trained pilots from African countries and China. His primary focus of training was carrier approach and landing, both complex manoeuvres which require a specialised skill set for aircraft capable of conducting hooked landings on the deck. The TFASA provides training to pilots from various countries and has a partnership with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), China’s state-owned aerospace and defence conglomerate. AVIC already has allegations of espionage against it as their servers had penetrated the database of the F-35 program and acquired sensitive information that may have eventually been used to develop the J-20 and F-31 fighters. The contract between AVIC and TFASA allows the South African academy to incorporate JL-10, JL-9, and Z-10 into their training modules, along with western aircraft like the Typhoon, Gripen, Tornado, Hawk, and Mirage F1.
The indictment also mentions that Duggan was involved in the purchase of a T-2 Buckeye naval deck-based aircraft from a US dealer in the year 2011 and the aircraft was successfully sold to an unnamed company in South Africa. However, the whereabouts of the aircraft are unknown and American authorities are suspicious that the aircraft has been moved from South Africa to China. However, it is still unknown why the Chinese through Duggan wanted to purchase the T-2 and not any other aircraft that is available on American markets.
Analysis
America put a ban on selling any kinds of weapons to China post the massacre at Tiananmen Square forcing China to rely on Russia for its aircraft, until it established its domestic manufacturing industries. Despite the American ban, Israel was able to give crucial Lavi technology to China, which resulted in the production of PLAAF’s flagship aircraft, the J-10. US Intelligence reports also hint that by early 1990, Israel had also shared crucial Patriot missile technology with China. Apart from these two incidents, China relied on Russian technology, which it managed to reverse engineer, souring relations between the two counties. China’s strategy is simple, it wants to build air power that surpasses Russian technology and matches up to Western standards while being manufactured at home. China’s foreign policies have largely isolated the country from most of the important air power related exercises, which prevents PLAAF and PLAN pilots from engaging with different, air power tactics, air mission ideas, types of training, and from creating a bonhomie with other air forces. PLAAF pilots usually only participate in the Shaheen exercise with Pakistan Air Force, and this year participated in VOSTOK-2022 for the first time. PLAAF also participates in Falcon Strike with the Thai Air Force, however these are the only exercises that PLAAF takes part internationally, leaving their pilots with a dearth of experience.
One way around this has been China’s tactics of poaching and hiring retired western pilots from America, Poland, Australia, and the UK who have knowledge of carrier based operations and knowledge about stealth aircraft. This allows key PLAAF and PLAN pilots to receive clandestine training from Western pilots who are more experienced and have had an exposure with foreign air forces. Scouting and hiring veterans and mercenaries is not a new strategy and is done by almost every country, so China isn’t new to this game. Americans, Russians, Germans, and Israelis have tried poaching and recruiting pilots and soldiers of competing countries. However, the news of a Marine Corps pilot helping the Chinese when US-China tensions are at their highest has shaken the military and judiciary, and Duggan who was arrested by US forces in Australia will be tried for treason. The breakout story was reported only this year, after Duggan had already been training Chinese pilots for 10 years and had been living in China for the last 5 years. Pilots from the above-mentioned countries have also trained Chinese pilots and there is no information regarding that. It is clear that China has been successful in finding veterans who are willing to de-classify their training for big bucks, and this is something that will worry Western Air Forces.
Short Take-Offs
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Why would African air forces be interested in trg for ac carrier operations? PLAN & PLAAF have such interest and would have found any means possible to gain such knowledge. Let more info come out on numbers of Chinese pilots trained and extent of imparted trg.