NEW: China has recruited dozens of former British military pilots to teach the Chinese armed forces how to defeat western warplanes & helicopters in a “threat to UK interests”, officials have revealed.
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One official said some 30 pilots - many ex-fast jet but also some helicopter pilots lured by annual salaries of around £240,000 - are currently in China training pilots in the People’s Liberation Army in what a defence analyst described as a stunning breach of security.
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Beijing is actively trying to hire many more serving and former military pilots and other specialists from across the RAF, the @RoyalNavy and the @BritishArmy as well as personnel from other western nations, the western official said.
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The situation is so grave, the UK
@DefenceHQ’s Defence Intelligence service on Tuesday issued a “threat alert” to warn against such approaches.
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@DefenceHQ’s Defence Intelligence service on Tuesday issued a “threat alert” to warn against such approaches.
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China is using third-party head-hunters, including a company based in South Africa, to target personnel, the western official said.
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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.
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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.
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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 their sense of honour and patriotism.
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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.
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The spike in recruitment has been identified since around the end of 2019 at the start of the COVID lockdown. Officials were unable to say immediately what the total number was of former British military personnel who had ever been hired to work for the Chinese.
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China is seeking pilots with experience of flying British & other NATO warplanes, including the Typhoon & Tornado fighter jets and the Harrier jump jet – which used to operate off UK carriers, to teach its pilots how best to counter their capabilities, the official said.
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“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.
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“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.”
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