Ex-military pilots lured to China…..

[CharlieOneSix]

Ex-UK pilots lured to help Chinese military, MoD says https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63293582

[TheGreenAnger]

The Times article implicates a South African company as the middleman in this scenario.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chin ... -ttrzmtzb5

China has recruited dozens of British former armed forces pilots to train its air force in an effort to understand western tactics, according to the Ministry of Defence.

At least 30 former fast jet and helicopter pilots have been lured by sums of about $270,000 a year since the start of the pandemic to help Beijing develop its tactics and technological expertise.

Even serving personnel flying the RAF’s fifth-generation F-35 jets, Typhoons and helicopters such as the submarine-hunting Merlins and Wildcats are being headhunted, creating alarm in the UK government.

“In supporting this training, these personnel are almost certainly enhancing China’s military knowledge and capability. Without us taking action, this activity would almost certainly cause harm to the UK and our allies’ defence advantage,” a western official said.

The official said that pilots were being approached by a third-party company in South Africa that had been tasked with finding individuals to train the People’s Liberation Army’s pilots.

The official named the company as the Test Flying Academy of South Africa and stressed there was no connection to the South African government. On its website, the company says it is the “only independent test pilot school outside Europe and the Americas”.

The MoD believes the purpose of recruiting UK pilots is to train the Chinese to understand the tactics, approaches and capabilities of western aircraft should they come up against them in a dog fight. “We have world-class people, along with our allies, so they are very attractive people to them,” the western official said.

The decision to make China’s tactics public indicates the degree of concern inside the government. It follows warnings by senior spies that China is using LinkedIn to try to recruit unwitting individuals who might have access to sensitive information. The MoD is examining whether it needs employees to sign non-disclosure agreements.

The individuals who have been recruited so far and are carrying out the training in China are not thought to have breached the Official Secrets Act.

About 30 former pilots have been recruited since the end of 2019. Some are believed to be in their late 50s and piloted aircraft no longer in use in the British military. Their motivation for signing up is thought to be the money.

Before 2019 there were attempts to recruit pilots but the recruitment campaign has intensified as China seeks a military and technological advantage.

It is understood that China is trying to recruit pilots from other western nations which are also trying to dissuade current or former personnel from taking up roles there.

[TheGreenAnger]

https://www.tfasa.com/

Jean Roussow and C Jurie Van Wyngaard (ex SAAF) et al. Company based in Oudtshoorn and George etc. Currently training Chinese airline cadets (as do many reputable schools here in the UK it must be said). They may have jumped the proverbial aviation shark on this one and will not enjoy the negative attention.

https://za.linkedin.com/in/jean-rossouw-9b09ab114

JR.JPG (21.83 KiB) Viewed 794 times

Test Pilot School for training of Test Pilots and Flight Test Engineers, as well as Flight Test Instrumentation Engineers. Courses from Class 1 Test Pilot Courses to a variety of short courses tailored to the clients needs. Flight Test Consultation and execution for any phase of flight.

https://za.linkedin.com/in/c-jurie-van- ... d-4824b331

CJW.JPG (20.51 KiB) Viewed 794 times

Born Cape Town, 1974. Received BEng in electronic engineering, 1998, and BEng (Hons), 2002. Awarded for technological innovation and registered a patent in my name. Served as operational pilot in South African Air Force, 1999 to 2002. Awarded best student Basic Military Training, Officers Forming Course, 1993, and 2nd Pilots Wings Course, 2000. Joined ATE Aerospace Ltd. (Paramount), 2003, as systems engineer and systems safety analyst. Joined Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. in Switzerland, 2007, as senior customer support engineer; appointed head of department, 2009. Received MEng (cum laude) specializing in project management, 2011, published various international papers. Joined security & defence company Saab, 2011, as senior marketing & sales executive; appointed executive manager business development, 2016-2019. Currently serving as Group CEO at TFASA.

[TheGreenAnger]

My spy from the runway in Oudtshoorn tells me that the Chinese cadets are now trained in George. Makes sense I guess as Oudtshoorn doesn't have the full gamut of landing aids.

One wonders about ex RAF people who would train a potential enemy! I assume that they would all have signed the Official Secrets Act and would realise that what they are doing is a no, no even if they are not in contravention of the act itself?

Mammon uber alles eh!

Shades of the Sempill Mission.

[Pinky the pilot]

Could that not be possibly classed as a treasonable act?

[G-CPTN]

Are we at war with China?

[TheGreenAnger]

Are we at war with China?

No more than we are unofficially at war with Russia.

[Ex-Ascot]

It is a question of if they are just training them to fly or fighter tactics. The latter would be a very grey area in the Official Secrets Act. I would suggest not cricket. Let the slant eyed little yellow noodle eaters work it out for themselves.

[Boac]

I recall that when a certain group of 'foreign gentlemen' were given to us at the RAF College of Knowledge to be taught to fly, there was a strong move afoot to teach max-rate turns with flap down.

[barkingmad]

On seeing this news item I wondered if my A2 categorisation in 1982 as a Jet Provost QFI might qualify me for a quarter of a million groats per annum.

I then recalled I'd better things to do in a, so far, less totalitarian country* and I'm sure the Official Secrets Act declaration which I've signed might not permit such collaboration with an acknowledged enemy.

*That won't last long as we now have a soon-to-be Prime Minister who is on video expressing his admiration for the CCP way of achieving the Holy Grail of zero-plague and is a fervent lockdown advocate.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... e-in-china

Note the comment about his wife who has "strong family connections in China".

This article might cause difficulty should he wish to achieve any sort of successful positive vetting for his new position;

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... abuse.html

Apparently her secret pet name for him is "Big Rice", which is what we'll be reduced to eating soon in the UK along with a meagre ration of deep fried locusts if WEF get their way...

However, his 6 years as Officer I/C the NHS has well qualified him to carry on wrecking so we can look forwards to some more interesting austerity as per Cameron et al.

[TheGreenAnger]

On seeing this news item I wondered if my A2 categorisation in 1982 as a Jet Provost QFI might qualify me for a quarter of a million groats per annum.

You should apply barking, imagine all the money you could make while bending the rice noshers' ears about the plague. The poor buggers wouldn't know what had hit them!

Fiendish Anglo plot to undermine morale in the People's Republic of China air force....

[TheGreenAnger]

All this talk of training the Chinese made me apt to think of Cecil Lewis's time out there training Chinese pilots, post the First World War, training the Republic of China pilots (laterTaiwan) to fly the Vickers Vimy on behalf of Vickers, all told in his perfect prose in Sagittarius Rising. I don't think he thought much of the bunch he had as students, but I imagine the Chinese are pretty adept these days.

[TheGreenAnger]

Most recently...

Ministers want to change the law to prevent former RAF pilots from training the Chinese military, amid reports at least 30 British personnel are believed to have taken advantage of “very generous” recruitment packages offered by the superpower.

It emerged overnight that British defence intelligence is to issue a rare “threat alert”, warning that China’s military is trying to recruit serving and former RAF jet pilots to help train its own air force.

Officials expressed “concern and disapproval” of schemes because they posed “a threat to UK and western interests”. Although they are not explicitly banning pilots from providing training, they aim to take steps to “manage the risk”.

In the latest development, the armed forces minister, James Heappey, has said the government wants to change the law to introduce a two-strike rule which would result in British pilots being given one warning before they were prosecuted.

Heappey told Sky News: “We’ve approached the people involved and have been clear of them that it’s our expectation they would not continue to be part of that organisation.

“We are going to put into law that once people have been given that warning it will become an offence to go forward and continue with that training.

“China is a competitor that is threatening the UK interest in many places around the world. It is also an important training partner but there is no secret in their attempt to gain access to our secrets, and their recruitment of our pilots in order to understand the capabilities of our air force is clearly a concern to us and the intelligence part of the MoD.”

Tobias Ellwood, Tory MP and former solider, said on Twitter there were “serious questions for the RAF”, adding: “We should not be surprised by China’s audacity in luring UK pilots to learn about our tactics. But we should be surprised there’s nothing akin to the Official Secrets Act preventing this – and the absence of patriotism of those involved.”

In a statement, the MoD said it was attempting to stop the recruitment of former and serving pilots.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... es-heappey

[Boac]

Where will that leave Mrs *unt?

[TheGreenAnger]

Where will that leave Mrs *unt?

Good question, and what of those Chinese building our next critically important nuclear reactor. We really have got ourselves into a totally strategically compromised, and inconsistent, muddle in our relationship with China.

https://chinaresearchgroup.org/research ... lear-power

[Boac]

........and, sadly, we cannot rely on anyone in the current 'government' to produce a cohesive policy (that will not be reversed..................?)

[Undried Plum]

If they're prepared to spend $275k pa on each of thirty or forty instructors, then mebbe they've somehow gained the impression that NATO's relentless Eastward military aggression ain't goin' to stop with Russia.

How are were learning their tactics? I'da thunk we could hire their QWIs for a hell of a lot less than they are hiring ours.

Isn't the basic plan to get behind the bugger and shoot him in the arse. Isn't that pretty much universal?

[Boac]

Ah! Enjoyed that immensely - some great memories of faces. Not a bad production either.

Out of interest, Plum, where in the RAF sequence did you bang out?

[TheGreenAnger]

My favourite story of a RAF "bang out" (as Boac, so tartly , puts it) is this very talented rogue and pilot... care of ExSp33db1rd (good chap that he clearly is).

viewtopic.php?p=119917#p119917

I am we all know, some talented people, good pilots, or bad pilots, mavericks, as others might call them, who don't necessarily conform as they should in the regular sense, in their service to their country, but when aligned, were, or who are, or who can still be, very effective in war and peace...

UP you don't have to say a word... (as my lawyer once said to me)!

[Ex-Ascot]

Language problems?