Former U.S. Pilot Accused Of Training CCP Pilots

Former U.S. Marine Corps pilot and Australian Daniel Duggan has been accused of violating U.S. arms control laws by training Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fighter pilots to land on aircraft carriers, according to a U.S. court indictment now being released, the media reported on December 13th.

The indictment said the naturalized Australian provided military training to CCP pilots through a test flying academy in South Africa between 2010 and 2012. According to Duggan’s company website, he has flown for more than a decade in the U.S. Marine Corps, attaining the rank of major and working as a military tactical flight instructor.

Duggan allegedly contracted directly with an unnamed co-conspirator to provide services to a Communist China state-owned company, including evaluations of Chinese military pilot trainees, testing of naval aviation related equipment, and instruction on tactics related to landing aircraft on aircraft carriers.

Duggan faces four charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States by planning to unlawfully export defence services to China, conspiracy to launder money, and two counts of violating the arms export control act and international traffic in arms regulations.
It is understood that both Australian and UK authorities have now issued warnings about the practice of former military pilots training pilots in the Communist China.