Several former RAF pilots have managed to find a new job in China: Chinese military personnel are taught about military aircraft and Western pilots – BBC writes. Perhaps China pays very well, and can even give more than 237,000 pounds (113 million forints) to British teachers.
According to the Department of Defense, there are about 30 ex-pilots involved, and warnings are now being sent to other ex-pilots, who consider the program too risky from an intelligence standpoint. Although the law does not prevent laid-off pilots from working as instructors in another country, the ministry and authorities are trying to reduce the number of former pilots trying their luck abroad.
Ex-pilots can provide information about Western equipment and methods that could be very important in the event of an armed conflict, such as between China and Taiwan.
The offer is not new, but China has recently ramped up this type of hiring. The UK first encountered such job postings in 2019, and since then they have been trying to tackle the issues one by one. During the epidemic, recruitment slowed down, as it was almost impossible to travel to China, but visits again became more and more frequent. The government is already planning legislation to ban pilots from providing advice to China after the shutdown.
According to the officials who spoke, the pilots were contacted with the help of intermediaries. They cited a flight school in South Africa as an example and highlighted the problem not only affecting the UK.
So far, there is no doubt that any former pilot in the British armed forces has handed over classified data, thus breaking the law.
