Fury as minister says MoD were told in 2019 ex-RAF Top Guns were recruited by China to train pilots

British military officials have tonight been accused of not acting quickly enough to stop ex-RAF Top Guns from being ‘head-hunted’ by the Chinese government to train their fighter aces.

The claim comes as a top minister admitted the Ministry of Defence had known about Beijing recruiting former UK pilots for three years before voicing concerns publicly.

Armed Forces Minster James Heappey said security officials first learnt of an ‘isolated case’ of a ‘defence industry employee’ being recruited to support Chinese ‘military aviation programmes’ back in 2019.

The revelation has left a former spy concerned and sparked calls for the Government to take action to stop more RAF fast-jet experts from being recruited by Beijing.

Philip Ingram, a former Colonel with British military intelligence, feared key secrets about UK tactics and tech could have been inadvertently obtained by Chinese spies, who would have ‘had a long time’ to work on ex-UK forces.

He told MailOnline: ‘This is something the country should be concerned of.

‘The Ministry of Defence should have been on top of this when they first heard about it happening.

‘Chinese intelligence will have had an awful long time to work on these individuals Their networks are huge and abilities to turn people to get them working for the Chinese are massive.’

The concern was triggered after Mr Heappey responded to a parliamentary question from Labour’s Shadow Defence Secretary, John Healey, about how long the MoD had known about the recruitment of former British military personnel by the Chinese.

In the response, Mr Heappey – a former soldier who served in Afghanistan and Iraq – said: ‘The Department became aware of an isolated case in 2019 when a defence industry employee was head-hunted to support military aviation programmes. 

‘Since then, we have investigated other cases, and when practicable taken necessary measures to deter and dissuade such recruitment.

‘Following the easing of the pandemic, the scale and pace of the recruitment escalated, and it is right that we now expose this threat more widely. We are not prepared to comment on the detail of individual cases, have been informed of significant developments along the way.’

Labour has criticised the Tories for being ‘blasé’ about security threats and being ‘too slow to emerge from their “golden era” with China’.

John Healey, Shadow Defence Secretary told MailOnline: ‘The first duty of any government is to protect national security.

‘These activities could have revealed compromising details of UK military operations, technology and training to a foreign power, posing a significant threat to national security.

‘Ministers must answer serious questions about why serving personnel and veterans were allowed to undertake these activities and the risk it now poses. 

‘The public will also want reassurance actions have been taken to halt it.’ 

Last month it was revealed the MoD has been training Chinese pilots, allowing them to study at UK military colleges. 

As part of the scheme, which ran until 2019, RAF pilots were sent to Beijing to instruct Chinese aircrew. 

According to Sky News, the MoD authorised the Chinese pilots to receive an ‘Aviation English Course’ as well as instruction in conflict law. 

This has led to increased criticism of the Government, many of whose members were in cabinet for the duration of the scheme. 

Several serving Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots taught an ‘Aviation English Course’ in China in 2016, while a number of Chinese nationals studied at the RAF’s college at Cranwell in Lincolnshire and the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham in Swindon, Sky News reported.

An MoD spokesperson said: ‘The UK has never provided fast jet flight training, or any other sensitive training, for People’s Liberation Army (Air Force) pilots.’

It is understood the MoD’s official defence activities with Beijing, which included initial officer training on English language and armed conflict law, were stopped in 2019.

Meanwhile, retired British fast-jet experts have been lured to train the Chinese with hefty annual salaries of about £240,000. 

Among the Brits to have been hired to train China’s air force included RAF ace, Keith Hartley. 

Mr Hartley, formerly know by the military call-sign ‘Hooligan’, has been at the centre of Beijing’s recruitment drive in his role as Chief Operating Officer at a firm called the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA).

He has operated there and in China where, according to a TFASA company profile he was responsible for ‘teaching, contracts and developing business’.

Based at Oudtshoorn, TFASA was named and shamed by an intelligence briefing by UK spooks for recruiting British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand pilots to work for China.

They are being lured by Beijing with promises of eye-watering salaries, school fees, luxury apartments and unlimited airline tickets to and from the repressive country.

As TFASA’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr Hartley is understood to have played a highly significant role in the recruitment of Royal Air Force and Royal Navy pilots.

TFASA has headhunted former officers who played key roles in some of the UK’s most sensitive defence projects, including development of the £2.8 billion F-35B Lightning stealth jet and Britain’s £6.4 billion aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.  

Last month, UK officials indicated the Chinese had been unsuccessful in their attempts to lure anyone with expertise in Britain’s state-of-the-art F-35B Lightning jet.

But research by the Daily Mail has revealed this is not entirely the case, with Royal Navy pilot Stephen Crockatt – who was ‘UK Team Lead’ on the F-35B Integrated Test Force between 2017-2019, had spent time working with the Chinese. 

On his LinkedIn profile he provides more details of the role, saying he ‘led the ITF developmental team to deliver the evidence required to support the UK F-35 operating capability and ensure support to U.S./UK interoperability goals’. He also boasts that he became TFASA’s ‘Deputy Chief Test Pilot Instructor’.

Mr Crockatt worked in Beijing, in exchange for a large cheque. ‘Yes, I did go to China with TFASA, a lot of people did,’ he admitted. ‘But I cannot fly an F-35. I work in flight test training. 

‘I told the Chinese how to set up a flight test school, making sure people are there on time and the safety is in place. The MoD are fully aware. I did nothing tactical for TFASA — but they got involved with other things with the Chinese.’

Other pilots, speaking on condition of anonymity, have suggested the training of PLA pilots by British officers has been going on far longer, perhaps for as long as 20 years.

One said: ‘It would make your eyes water, it’s been happening for that long, clandestinely. At first I thought it was a two-way thing, with us getting as much information from the Chinese as we were passing to them. But I don’t think so any more. It is just about money and there is nothing in place to stop it.’

Despite mounting concerns in Whitehall, the Government has been powerless to end the training scheme because no laws had been broken.

However, British security agencies have not been sitting idly by and have instead launched counter-intelligence operation, it has been reported.

In an astounding double-bluff, spooks are said to have approached a small group of the Western pilots, asking them to ‘wear two hats’ and hoover up sensitive intelligence on China’s military tech, tactics and capabilities. 

It’s understood the pilots, who were not trained intelligence officers and from a mix of nationalities, agreed to the covert operation.  

The undercover operatives were given their own handlers and tasked with taking a mental note of China’s fleet of next-generation fighter jets.

One source told the Daily Express that the UK had ‘played China at its own game’ – and won. ‘This was a rather unprecedented situation,’ he told the paper, confirming all the assets had now left China and the operation had ended. 

But ex-spy Mr Ingram said the Official Secrets Act needed to be amended to prevent further top guns from supporting the training of other nations deemed ‘a threat’ by the UK.

Details of TFASA’s management structure suggest Mr Hartley has been responsible for the academy’s ‘Military Operational Flight Training’ for both fixed wing and rotary aircraft.

Meanwhile, a company profile from 2019 said: ‘Keith has carried out complete weapons system programmes from initial design to flight testing and introduction to service. Keith has been a senior member of TFASA staff since 2005 and has been engaged in long and short-course teaching of test pilots in a variety of civil and military programmes’.

TFASA has also met China’s requirement for Royal Navy Wildcat and Merlin helicopter pilots, specifically those with experience of aircraft carrier operations.

These officers were approached as China prepared to launch its latest aircraft carrier, the 984ft-long Fujian.

China already has the world’s biggest navy, of at least 360 vessels, but is playing catch up with the United States on carriers. The US Navy has 11 and China has three.

In a statement TFASA said it ‘strongly believes that its actions, and those of its employees, do not contravene any UK laws’.

TFASA said the training it provides is also available from other civilian contractors including organisations based in the United States, Canada, and European jurisdictions.

The company added: ‘Neither the UK MoD nor any other UK Government agency has raised any objections to TFASA, or its employees with whom the agencies have been in direct contact, regarding the Company’s fulfilment of any training contracts.

‘TFASA is in the process of contacting the UK MoD, to ensure that there are no misunderstandings between the organisations.

‘TFASA stands by its employees and will continue supporting them, all their work is and has been carried out in full accordance.’