The United States has taken decisive action against companies allegedly involved in training Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircrew in South Africa. The US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently announced sanctions against four firms spanning Hong Kong, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. These companies are accused of utilizing Western and NATO sources to provide training to PLA air personnel.
The sanctioned firms include Global Training Solutions Limited and Smartech Future Limited in Hong Kong, Grace Air (Pty) Ltd in South Africa and Livingston Aerospace Ltd in the United Kingdom, according to the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).
- Global Training Solutions Limited and Smartech Future Limited (Hong Kong): These Hong Kong-based companies have been implicated in training Chinese military aircrew.
- Grace Air (Pty) Ltd (South Africa): Grace Air, a South African firm, is among the entities facing sanctions due to its alleged involvement in training PLA air personnel.
- Livingston Aerospace Ltd (United Kingdom): Livingston Aerospace, owned by former British military pilot Craig Penrice, has been targeted by the sanctions. Penrice previously served as a project manager at the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), which itself faced sanctions a year ago.
“US Sanctions Firms for Training China’s Military Aircrew in South Africa.”
The BIS added 16 companies to its Entity List last year, citing their purported provision of training to Chinese military pilots using Western and NATO resources. Among the sanctioned entities are TFASA, Frontier Services Group, AVIC International Flight Training Academy (AIFA), and the Chinese Flight Test Establishment (also known as the Shaanxi-based AVIC Flight Test Center).
“These entities are listed because of their links to the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) and the training of China’s military forces using Western and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sources.”
AVIC, a major Chinese aerospace company, plays a critical role in producing various military aircraft for China. Their portfolio includes the J-20 fighter, the J-15 carrier-based fighter, the Y-20 transport aircraft, and some civil aviation models.
The Five Eyes—an intelligence-sharing alliance comprising the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—has intensified efforts to curb TFASA’s operations. They assert that private companies in South Africa and China are recruiting former fighter pilots, flight engineers, and air operations personnel from Western countries to train PLA air force and navy personnel.
The UK’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) disclosed that up to 30 former Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, and Army pilots have been involved in training the Chinese PLA-Air Force.
Mostly in their fifties, the pilots are predominantly “fast jet” pilots, veterans of aircraft such as the RAF’s Eurofighter Typhoon. Some of these pilots were contracted through a private South African company as early as 2019, lured by high salaries reaching £237,911 (US$270,000) annually. Notably, this pay significantly exceeds the average yearly salary of an RAF pilot (£58,897), and in return, they are teaching the People’s Liberation Army Air Force Western flying tactics.
Despite these revelations, no legal action has been taken against the pilots or the recruiting process. The MoD maintains that the training did not violate UK law.
The US and Australia recently collaborated to apprehend a former TFASA executive. Chinese commentators argue that the West is leveraging the pilot-training issue to propagate the “China threat theory” and form an anti-China coalition.
The primary reason for Chinese recruiting this ex-pilota concentrates on two key areas: how Western air forces fight and how they train—particularly carrier operations. Liaoning, China’s first carrier, was only commissioned in 2012, and Chinese carrier-based aviation is still in its infancy.
Secondly, to gain insights into how Western pilots fight. Western air forces often train with one another to disseminate newly discovered aerial tactics and provide new challenges for their pilots.
Despite the recent allegations involving the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), China has not issued any official statements regarding its involvement in training Chinese military personnel in South Africa.
China’s carrier force might gain some benefit from working with Western ex-carrier pilots, as new techniques, such s safety techniques are worked into China’s own carrier procedures.
China’s military ties with South Africa date back decades. During the apartheid era, China supported the African National Congress (ANC) in its fight against apartheid. The first batch of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) fighters went to China for military training in 1961.