Alexander H.’s old life seems a long way away from the opaque world of military espionage, a Chinese airbase and questions surrounding the betrayal of state secrets. In a quiet, modern housing development outside of Rostock, Germany, a neighborhood with carefully trimmed hedges and well-manicured yards, stands the yellow-painted home where Alexander H. used to live. It’s not far from his former workplace, the base south of Rostock in the town of Laage that is home to the Tactical Air Force Wing 73 "Steinhoff." An officer in the German military, the Bundeswehr, Alexander H. – aka "Limey" – used to train pilots on the Eurofighter combat aircraft.
Neighbors recall a friendly man with strawberry-blond hair. They say that at some point, he left the country with his American girlfriend, likely to the United States. And Alexander H. even registered his move in March 2013 – but the destination he provided was not in the U.S. He listed his new address as the airport in Qiqihar.
Qiqihar is a remote city in northeastern China, in the province of Heilongjiang, which shares a border with Siberia. One flight a day lands here from Beijing, with the flight attendants making sure on the approach that all the window shades have been closed. Nobody is supposed to catch sight of the Chinese-made Jian-11 fighter jets parked on the tarmac and in the hangars.
Qiqihar is home to an airbase belonging to the People’s Liberation Army. And it is here that former Bundeswehr officer Alexander H. apparently lived and worked. It is thought that he was there to train Chinese pilots.
According to reporting by DER SPIEGEL and the public broadcaster ZDF, there appears to be a handful of former German fighter pilots working as trainers in China. And they are apparently earning salaries that would normally be reserved for professional athletes or top executives of multinational corporations.
German security officials believe it is very possible that the pilots have passed on military expertise and confidential operational tactics, and even practiced attack scenarios, such as an offensive against Taiwan. And all that at a time when tensions between China and the West have been growing. For months, there has been little communication between Washington and Beijing, and there is a constant danger of escalation – such as last Friday, when two warplanes flew dangerously close to each other over the South China Sea.
In several recent sessions, the Parliamentary Oversight Panel in the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, has addressed the "professional activity of public servants following the end of their employment." Members of the committee, whose task it is to monitor Germany’s intelligence agencies, are concerned that expert knowledge could fall into the wrong hands. And one of their focuses has been the former Bundeswehr pilots in China. The chair of the Oversight Panel, Green Party politician Konstantin von Notz, says that should the suspicions be confirmed, it would be an "outrageous, scandalous and problematic situation" representing "an enormous security risk."
The case certainly fits in with Beijing’s standard approach, which security experts refer to as the "gray beard strategy." For years now, Chinese agencies have sought to embrace former decision-makers who possess privileged knowledge, some of it quite current. They offer lucrative consulting contracts, honors and invitations to conferences. Their goal is the harvesting of know-how, say experts, including information that has military value.
When approached for comment, the German Defense Ministry confirmed "that China is attempting, via external agencies, to recruit former NATO pilots as trainers," including "former German Bundeswehr pilots." There is, the ministry statement continues, "a significant danger that not just basic flight proficiency will be imparted, but that relevant tactics, techniques and procedures will be manifested."
Retirement at Age 41
Bundeswehr fighter pilots usually enter retirement at 41, an age at which reflexes tend to grow duller and vision worse. Those who begin flying for the German Air Force at the age of 20 receive half of their final monthly salary as a pension once they reach 41. Most former pilots find it insufficient and look for secondary employment.
The training of pilots in China began just over 10 years ago, with a former Bundeswehr pilot declaring a position at the Test Flying Academy of South Africa, which trains Chinese pilots. Sources in Berlin say the pilot did not transgress any formal restrictions with the move and point out that China at the time was not seen as an authoritarian rival. Germany was also providing official training to Chinese officers at the time.
The naivete of this approach became clearer than ever last fall, when Australia arrested the American pilot Daniel Duggan. He stands accused of having trained Chinese pilots, just like his German counterparts – allegations which Duggan denies. He is currently behind bars and may be extradited to the United States.
British agencies also sounded the alarm last fall. According to a British Defense Ministry announcement, up to 30 former Royal Air Force officers are thought to have provided training to Chinese fighter pilots in the last several years. They received the princely salary of 280,000 euros each for their services. Because the pilots violated no applicable laws, London announced it would be introducing a legal reform.
American investigators believe that the imprisoned pilot Duggan was recruited by the Chinese company Lode Tech, which was founded by businessman Su Bin, the son of an officer in the People’s Liberation Army. Su lived for many years in Canada, where he operated an aviation company with 80 employees. As later became clear, he also spied on behalf of the Chinese state.
Su developed a particularly keen interest in the construction blueprints for the C-17, a transport plane developed by Boeing for the U.S. military. In the summer of 2014, Su was arrested, subsequently confessing that he had spent six years secretly collecting information for China. He had been able to rely on an extensive network of contacts in the aviation industry, making it possible for him to identify particularly interesting engineers and other professionals for his handlers back in China. With the help of phishing emails, hackers employed by the state were then able to find their way into company computer networks. In total, they were able to steal 630,000 pieces of data related to the C-17.
In the summer of 2016, a U.S. court sentence Su Bin to 46 months behind bars, but he was subsequently deported to China just over a year later. The reason for his premature release was a bargaining chip taken by the Chinese: Just a few weeks after Su’s arrest, Chinese officials detained a Canadian couple on suspicions of spying in order to ratchet up the pressure.
The case was covered across the U.S. media, by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. And the U.S. placed Su Bin’s company Lode Tech on its sanctions list on August 1, 2014. It was the clearest message yet that this particular company should be avoided. But it was at this time that a trio of former German fighter pilots began doing business with Su and his company.
A "Unique" Decision
Proof can be found in the Panama Papers, the trove of offshore data from the law firm Mossack Fonseca that was originally leaked to the Süddeutsche Zeitung and which DER SPIEGEL has now also obtained. Alexander "Limey" H., the former German Air Force pilot from near Rostock, also makes an appearance in the Panama Papers. According to the documents, in August 2013, he was initially the sole stakeholder of the shell company Phamivity Consult Ltd., based in the Seychelles. On March 8, 2016, an employee of Su Bin’s in Beijing confirmed in writing that Alexander H. was employed by the company as an "aviation consultant contractor." A copy of the German ex-pilot’s passport, issued by an insignificant municipality on the Baltic Sea, was attached to the document.
Among friends and acquaintances, Alexander H. made no great secret of who he was working for. Those who have known him for a long time say they didn’t have a good feeling about "Limey’s" decision to take the job in China.
Normally, retired fighter pilots take jobs with companies in Germany that have ties to the German military, says a former comrade who asked to remain anonymous. As such, he says, Alexander H.’s decision to become a consultant for a foreign power was "unique." He does not, however, believe that Alexander H. has revealed secret information to the Chinese, saying he is a patriot, professional and incorruptible, a man with a talent for organization. He says that he is certain that Alexander H. informed relevant German officials of his plans before taking the new position.
Still, he says, "Limey’s" work for the Chinese was naturally a topic of conversation during his visits back home in Germany. Alexander H., says the former comrade, ensured him that he was only imparting knowledge that could also be found on the internet. "Taking off, landing, flying in formation, basic things," the former comrade says.
How, then, does Alexander H. explain his likely salary of several hundred thousand euros per year? His former comrade says that perhaps a bit of tactical knowledge might be part of it. The Chinese, he says, might be interested in instilling their pilots with a new mentality, and are perhaps hoping that Alexander H. could teach them. Within NATO, he says, the notion of "mission command" is widespread, according to which a pilot has a certain amount of freedom and individual responsibility when it comes to accomplishing the task he or she has been assigned. In China, by contrast, the concept of "command control" – top-down authority – has long held sway. The former comrade says that "Limey" has hinted in their conversations that training pilots to break free of the command control mentality has been a challenge.
The former comrade says he was completely unaware that Alexander H. had been working in China with a company belonging to a convicted Chinese spy. Still, he says, he is certain that "Limey" hasn’t done anything wrong, adding that it would be better to speak with him directly. But Alexander H. declined to respond to an interview request and a written query submitted by DER SPIEGEL and ZDF.
Su Bin, the man who is thought to be pulling the strings in the background, has also proven difficult to reach. He hasn’t responded to any interview requests. His company Lode Tech, however, still exists. The company’s official headquarters is on the seventh floor of a shopping center in eastern Beijing. Nobody there, however, professes to have ever heard of him or his company.
In Berlin, the German Defense Ministry has been trying to find out for quite some time what, precisely, the former Air Force pilots are teaching their students and whether the subject matter also includes confidential military information. "Within the framework of its investigation, the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) is cooperating closely with the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, with the Bundesnachrichtendienst and with international cooperation partners," the ministry said in a statement – referring to Germany’s domestic and foreign intelligence agencies.
MAD has already launched an informational campaign aimed at preventing other pilots from taking jobs in China. As part of that campaign, pilots about to enter retirement are approached and reminded that the betrayal of state secrets is a crime that carries serious repercussions. Officials also say that they are "actively" seeking to "prevent further recruitment of pilots."
"He's Been Living in China for a Long Time"
Like Alexander H., Peter S. was also a pilot in the Air Force Wing in Laage. And he, too, moved to China – and he also became an "aviation consultant contractor" for Su Bin’s company Lode Tech.
Peter S.’s residence is still officially listed as a brick building that his former partner rents out as a holiday home. His name is still on the mailbox. Neighbors say that they last saw him several months ago. "He’s been living in China for a long time," says one of them.
Someone in the neighborhood still has Peter S.’s German mobile number. It rings. He answers the phone by gruffly asking if the caller is aware that it is the middle of the night in China. He initially refuses to engage in a conversation about his employment in the country. But a short time later, a PR consultant from the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), for whom Peter S. still works, gets in touch.
In a statement, the company says that from 2009 to 2018, Lode Tech had been contracted "to undertake administrative work related to visas and taxes". The statement also notes that Peter S. has informed the German government about his work in China and is in compliance with all relevant laws. He has "no working relationship" with Su Bin. "As far as TFASA is aware, Mr. Su Bin departed Lode in early 2014." But according to the Chinese commercial register, Su Bin still holds a 37 percent stake in Lode Tech, the company that the U.S. blacklisted back in August 2014. His current function is also noted: Su Bin is listed as "manager."
A third German airman is also apparently part of Su Bin’s stable of pilots. The home of Dirk J.’s parents is located at the end of a dead-end road, encircled by a brown fence. Three steps – red-brick, of course – lead up to the door. Standard German orderliness. On the doorbell is a last name that tens of thousands of people in Germany share.
Dirk J.’s parents, his brother and his sister-in-law all still live here. Dirk J. himself, however, hasn’t been home for quite some time, if what the family told reporters from DER SPIEGEL and ZDF is true. They say the family had a falling out and they are no longer in touch with Dirk J. His ex-wife, an American woman, never felt particularly comfortable in Germany. And in any case, as a Bundeswehr pilot, he spent most of his time abroad, in the U.S. and Canada.
His brother says that Dirk J. joined the military shortly after finishing school, becoming a navy flier and then a pilot of the combat aircraft Tornado. When he turned 40 and was faced with the prospect of exchanging his cockpit seat with a desk chair, he elected to leave the military.
After that, he spent several years working as a flight-school trainer in Florida and as a consultant, as he notes in his LinkedIn profile. In early April 2013, he headed for China as a "senior aviation consultant." On the internet, he described his new duties as: flight safety manager, instructor pilot, consultant for avionics, systems and infrastructure improvements. Does Dirk J. also advise the Chinese on how to more effectively arm themselves against the West?
His brother says that Dirk J. has always been quite secretive and never wanted to talk about his work in the People’s Republic. It appears that he didn’t want anyone back home to know what the German pilots were doing in China.