Australian pilot Daniel Duggan – a former US Marine Corps aviator – has been accused of breaking American arms control laws by training Chinese fighter pilots to land on aircraft carriers, according to an indictment now unsealed by a US court.
The indictment said the naturalised Australian “provided military training to (PRC) People’s Republic of China pilots” through a “test flying academy” in South Africa between 2010 and 2012.
Duggan was arrested by Australian authorities, at the request of the FBI, in regional New South Wales in October, pending a formal extradition request. The US has until 20 December – 60 days from his arrest – to lodge that request, or Duggan will be eligible for release.
Duggan’s arrest coincided with warnings from Australian and British authorities over the practice of former military pilots being offered lucrative contracts to train pilots in China.
Duggan’s lawyer, Dennis Miralis, has previously said the 54-year-old pilot will fight any extradition request, and resolutely maintains his innocence.
“He denies having breached any US law, any Australian law, any international law,” Miralis said. Miralis did not respond to requests from the Guardian for comment on Tuesday.
On Friday, the District of Columbia court on Friday unsealed the 2017 indictment and a US warrant for Duggan.
The indictment said Duggan was allegedly contracted directly by an unnamed co-conspirator – a Chinese national – to provide services to a Chinese state-owned company, including evaluations of Chinese military pilot trainees, testing of naval aviation related equipment, and instruction on tactics related to landing aircraft on aircraft carriers.
Duggan did not seek authorisation from the US government to provide military training to China, although the US State Department had informed him by email in 2008 this was required to train members of a foreign air force, it said.
The indictment alleges he travelled frequently between Australia, the US, China and South Africa between 2009 and 2012, when he held both US and Australian citizenships. Duggan has since renounced his US citizenship.
Duggan’s alleged violation of an arms embargo imposed on China by the United States also included providing aviation services in China in 2010, and providing an assessment of China’s aircraft carrier training, it said.
The indictment alleges the Chinese national brokered a deal between the South African flight school and a Chinese state-owned enterprise to provide aircraft carrier landing training to Chinese military pilots in South Africa and China.
A T-2 Buckeye aircraft was bought from a US aircraft dealer for the training, by providing false information that resulted in the US government issuing an export licence, it said.
Duggan faces four charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States by conspiracy to unlawfully export defence services to China, conspiracy to launder money, and two counts of violating the arms export control act and international traffic in arms regulations.
Duggan is being held in custody in New South Wales. His case will return to a Sydney court on Friday.
Duggan, the father of six school-age children, spent more than a decade flying in the US Marine Corps, reaching the rank of major and working as a military tactical flight instructor, according to his company website.
He moved to Australia after leaving the Marines, establishing an “adventure flight” company called Top Gun Tasmania, running joy flights in fighter planes in the southern island state.
The company operated “an initial military training aircraft of the Chinese air force” known as a Nanchang fighter jet, according to its website.
Australian company records indicate Duggan moved to Beijing around 2014. Since 2017 he has been managing director of Avibiz Limited, “a comprehensive aviation consultancy company with a focus on the fast growing and dynamic Chinese Aviation Industry”, based in the eastern city of Qingdao, site of a strategically important naval base.
Duggan’s wife, Saffrine Duggan, has launched a public petition calling on Australia’s attorney general to refuse any US extradition request – a “politically motivated … injustice” – and order the pilot freed.
In a preliminary court hearing last month, Miralis said his client had endured “extraordinary, unprecedented and unjustifiable” treatment, which he believed was the result of “foreign interference”.
A spokesperson for the Australian attorney general’s department said it “does not comment on extradition matters until after the person has been brought before the court pursuant to that extradition request”.
with Reuters
