Australian police searched former British pilot’s home for China fighter jet records

Name: Australia unveils biggest defence reform in decades, prioritising long-range missiles
Uploaded: 2023-05-02T13:00:17.000Z
Duration: 1 min 57 s
Description: Australia unveils biggest defence reform in decades, prioritising long-range missiles

Police searched Keith Hartley’s home on suspicion he broke the law by providing military style training directed or funded by China between 2018 and 2022

Britain and Australia have announced crackdowns on former military pilots working to train Chinese fliers

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Australian police searched Keith Hartley’s home on suspicion he had broken the law by providing military style training directed or funded by China between 2018 and 2022. Photo: AP

Reuters

Published: 9:00pm, 2 May 2023

Australian police searched the home of a British former test pilot for documents related to China’s J-16 strike fighter, Australia’s intelligence partners, and China’s biggest aviation company, a court judgment shows.

The search in November was part of an investigation into Western military pilots training China’s military at a time of growing tension between China and the United States and its allies.

Britain and Australia have announced crackdowns on former military pilots working to train Chinese fliers, and Britain vowed to change its national security law to stop them working for intermediaries including a South African flying school, which was alleged to be helping China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recruit pilots.

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Australia unveils biggest defence reform in decades, prioritising long-range missiles

Keith Hartley, chief operating officer of the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), has not been charged.

He challenged the validity of the search warrant in Australia’s Federal Court, questioning its wording and seeking the return of seized material.

The court rejected his application on April 28 and released its judgment, which sheds new light on the investigation into the South African flying school, which has a partnership with China’s state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) to train Chinese pilots in South Africa, and had employed several Western pilots with military backgrounds.

Federal police searched Hartley’s home on suspicion he had broken the law by providing military style training directed or funded by China between 2018 and 2022, the Federal Court heard.