Alwaght- China reportedly has recruited dozens of former British military pilots to teach trainees in the People’s Liberation Army
Sky News, citing an unnamed official, said some 30 mainly ex-fast jet but also some helicopter pilots are currently in China training pilots for the People's Liberation Army, in what a defense analyst described as a stunning breach of security.
A retired senior Royal Air Force officer said: "Wow… that is appalling. What were they thinking?"
Beijing is actively trying to hire many more serving and former military pilots and other specialists from across the RAF, the Royal Navy and the British Army as well as personnel from other western nations, the western official said.
According to the primary source, which was described as a “Western official” by Sky News, China pays the pilots $270,000 a year.
British Ministry of Defence's Defence Intelligence service on Tuesday issued a "threat alert" to warn serving and former military personnel against such approaches.
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told the news channel that the recruitment of UK pilots to train Chinese counterparts had been a concern within the Ministry of Defence "for a number of years".
Personnel already in China have been approached and advised against continuing such work, he said.
Mr Heappey said the law will be changing to make it illegal to ignore such warnings in future.
"Don't go and train foreign air forces without checking with the MOD whether they are a foreign air force we want to see you train - would be a good rule," he said.
China is using third-party head-hunters, including a company based in South Africa, to target personnel, the western official said.
The official named the company as the Test Flying Academy of South Africa, though stressed it had no connection with the South African government.
UK appears powerless to stop recruitment schemes
The western official said the recruitment schemes posed "a threat to UK and western interests" and were viewed with "concern and disapproval" by the government.
All British former service personnel, who have accepted jobs to train Chinese military pilots, "are almost certainly enhancing China's military knowledge and capability," the official said.
Despite the potential for harm to national security, the UK appears to have been powerless to stop the recruitment schemes or to force the former service personnel, who have accepted jobs in China, to return home - beyond appealing to them.
The official said it was not thought that anyone had breached the Official Secrets Act - which would be a criminal offence.
The Ministry of Defence said it was working to make it much harder for China to poach British military talent.
"We are taking measures to dissuade current and former pilots from being recruited, and we want to avoid any perception by China that our previous silence on this matter is misinterpreted as our acceptance or approval of this activity," the western official said.
China faces a 'steep learning curve' when it comes to possible military combat says the former director of operations at the Ministry of Defence.
'It is certainly more than a trickle'
The spike in recruitment has been identified since around the end of 2019 at the start of the COVID lockdown.
Officials were unable to immediately say the total number of former British military personnel who had ever been hired to work for the Chinese.
They were also unable to give a figure for how many current and former personnel are actively being targeted right now, but said: "It is certainly more than just a trickle."
No identities were given of the former British military pilots who are already working in China, but officials said a number of them were in their late 50s and had left the military a number of years ago.
"Without us taking action, this activity would almost certainly cause harm to the UK and our allies' defence advantage," the western official said.
What is China trying to achieve?
China is seeking pilots with long-experience of flying British and other NATO warplanes, including the Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets and the Harrier jump jet - which used to operate off British aircraft carriers, to teach its pilots how best to counter their capabilities, the western official said.
"It's not training Chinese pilots on Western jets. It's taking Western pilots of great experience to help develop Chinese military air force tactics and capabilities," the official said.
"It's really the Chinese having an understanding of what the latest generation of tactics and approaches and capabilities would be, were the Chinese military to get into situations coming up against those types of assets."
This also included British military helicopters such as Wildcat and Merlin.
It is understood that China has attempted to recruit former pilots who have trained on the top secret, US-led fifth generation, F35 fast jet.
The official said it is thought such efforts had so far been unsuccessful. These aircraft - each one worth more than £100 million - use highly sensitive stealth technology developed jointly with the United States and are a prime espionage target.
