Former U.S. military pilot Daniel Duggan, who faces extradition to the U.S., helped train Chinese aviators to land on aircraft carriers, according to a 2017 indictment.
Duggan, a naturalized Australian, “provided military training to [People’s Republic of China] pilots” on at least three known occasions between 2010 and 2012, said the document unsealed in December by the District of Columbia court.
The training was offered through a South African flight academy with a presence in China. The school hired teachers with “knowledge and experience in naval aviation meeting [NATO] standards,” the document said, with the training taking place in China, South Africa and other locations.
“These services included the evaluation of military pilot trainees, testing of naval aviation-related equipment, and instructions on tactics, techniques and procedures associated with launching from and landing on a naval aircraft carrier,” said the indictment.
A J-15 fighter jet of the People’s Liberation Army Naval Air Force prepares to land on the aircraft carrier Liaoning during a drill in the East China Sea on April 14, 2018. Former U.S. military pilot Daniel Duggan, who faces extradition to the U.S., helped train Chinese aviators to land on aircraft carriers, according to a 2017 indictment. AFP via Getty Images
Around the same period, Duggan allegedly received 12 payments totaling approximately $80,000 for providing “personal development training” and other services to Chinese pilots, in actions U.S. prosecutors said violated an arms and defense services embargo on China.
He negotiated directly with an unnamed Chinese national and was compensated by the individual’s China-based business, the document said. In China in 2012, while negotiating the terms of his services, Duggan wrote an email in which stated that “he hoped his children would be set for life as a result.”
Duggan, 54, spent over a decade flying for the U.S. Marine Corps between 1989 and 2002. He later renounced his U.S. citizenship after moving to Australia, where he was naturalized in 2012, his family said.
The State Department emailed the former Marine as early as 2008 to notify him to apply for written authorization before he could instruct foreign pilots, according to the court document, which referenced another eight unnamed coconspirators, including a former U.S. Navy officer and fighter pilot, who were involved in the training program.

Newsweek