Posted on 08/17/2026 10:36:24 AM PDT by Red Badger
A former Stanford University aerospace chairman who spent 14 years reviewing engine programs tied to the F-22 and F-35 traveled to one of China’s most sensitive defense-linked universities under a Chinese foreign-expertise initiative, university records reveal.
Brian Cantwell, a longtime Stanford professor of aeronautics and astronautics, spent May 9 through June 3, 2025 at Beihang University, according to an official account published by Beihang.
The nearly month-long visit was supported by what Beihang described as an “expertise introduction” program, part of a broader Chinese system designed to recruit foreign technical specialists into Chinese universities.
During the visit, Cantwell delivered six technical lectures, met directly with Chinese research teams, advised graduate students on ongoing projects, toured laboratories and an aeroacoustic wind tunnel, and discussed future scientific cooperation with Beihang faculty.
A separate Beihang notice advertising the lecture series stated that some of the material Cantwell intended to present was so recent that “the latest research has not yet been published.”
The visit is notable because Beihang has been restricted by the U.S. government for 25 years over concerns involving missile and unmanned-aircraft technology.
Washington has spent 25 years restricting the transfer of American technology to Beihang because of missile and UAV concerns. China appears to have found another route to valuable American aerospace know-how: bring the experts themselves to campus.
Cantwell Reviewed U.S. Fighter Engine Programs For 14 Years
Cantwell’s experience extends far beyond academic research.
According to his Stanford biography, Cantwell chaired Stanford’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics from 2001 through 2008.
From 1994 through 2008, he also served on an Executive Independent Review Team overseeing the development of the F119, F135 and F136 engine programs.
The F119 powers the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor. The F135 powers the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Cantwell previously served on NATO’s Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development Fluid Dynamics Panel, including a period as deputy chairman. His biography states that the panel supported NATO aerospace technology needs.
His research areas include turbulence, aerodynamics, aircraft propulsion, rocket propulsion, hybrid rocket fuels and aerodynamic drag.
Cantwell has remained active in the field. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics selected him to receive its 2026 Fluid Dynamics Award.
Beihang Says He Presented Unpublished Research
Beihang’s records show that Cantwell’s visit involved more than ceremonial appearances.
The university organized a six-part lecture series focused on turbulence and fluid mechanics, including wall-bounded turbulent flow, boundary layers, turbulent shear flows and jet behavior.
In its advance description of the lectures, Beihang stated that much of Cantwell’s material involved research conducted after 2019.
Lecture titles include
Primer on Symmetry Analysis (4/6)
Similarity Rules for Incompressible Turbulent Shear Flows (5/6)
Transition in the Jet Created by an Impulsive Point Force (6/6)
It then noted that “the latest research has not yet been published.”
He Also Advised Beihang Researchers
Beihang’s report on Cantwell’s visit describes direct interaction with researchers working under Professor Chen Xi, a Beihang turbulence specialist.
Chinese researchers presented Cantwell with their work on subjects including boundary-layer circulation, adverse-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layers and compressible channel turbulence.
According to Beihang, Cantwell discussed the research with graduate students and provided “opinions and suggestions.”
He also toured graduate laboratories and the university’s aeroacoustic wind tunnel.
The university concluded that the visit had laid a foundation for additional cooperation with Cantwell’s team in joint scientific research, talent cultivation and academic exchanges.
Chen himself previously worked in the United States.
His Beihang biography states that he worked as research faculty at Texas Tech University from 2014 through 2019 before returning to China. He later received support through a Chinese overseas high-level talent initiative.
Cantwell’s Trip Was Part Of A Chinese Foreign-Expert Program
Beihang explicitly described Cantwell’s visit as supported by an “引智计划,” a term commonly translated as an expertise-introduction or foreign-expert recruitment initiative.
Beihang separately explains that it operates multiple programs for importing overseas expertise, including “111” foreign-intelligence bases, high-end foreign expert projects and short-term foreign-expert initiatives.
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According to the university’s own description of the system, these programs target overseas specialists in fields including aerospace and artificial intelligence, promote substantive scientific cooperation and are intended to “serve major national strategic needs.”
Beihang has faced American export restrictions since May 2001.
When the Commerce Department added the university to the Entity List, exports to Beihang became subject to restrictions connected to missile-related end-use concerns.
Those restrictions remain in effect.
The current Commerce Department Entity List imposes licensing requirements on items subject to U.S. export regulations when Beihang is the relevant end user, generally with a presumption of denial.
The university has also previously been accused of using intermediaries to obtain American goods despite those restrictions.
In 2013, the Commerce Department identified several entities it said had acted as procurement agents for Beihang and facilitated at least 75 shipments of items subject to U.S. export controls intended for use at the university.
The School Hosting Cantwell Conducts UAV Research
Cantwell’s host institution inside Beihang, the School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, maintains significant aerospace infrastructure.
Among its facilities is an Advanced Long-Endurance Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technology Engineering Research Center.
According to Beihang’s description of the center, its work includes long-endurance UAV design, autonomous flight control, aircraft energy systems and new unmanned-aircraft configurations.
Organizations involved in its development have included major Chinese aerospace institutions.
Beihang is also commonly identified as one of China’s “Seven Sons of National Defense,” a group of universities with deep ties to the country’s defense industrial and military research system.
There is one obvious question Stanford has yet to answer: why wasn’t any of this worth mentioning?
American universities rarely miss an opportunity to advertise their professors’ international prestige. Yet there were no glowing Stanford profiles touting its former aerospace chief’s work with Beihang, no celebration of the relationship, and seemingly no effort to tell the American public that a man with intimate experience evaluating some of the Pentagon’s most advanced fighter-engine programs was lending his expertise to one of China’s premier defense universities.
Instead, Americans had to learn about it from Chinese-language university webpages.
Beijing was apparently proud enough to publicize the relationship. Stanford was not.
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If true, then death.
Aid and comfort, anyone?
Check all of his bank accounts.
Sounds treasony to me.
Sooner rather than later traitorous pig. I am sick of the jerks that think we need to keep some status quo and elevating other countries (enemies) with our tech. Let them wallow in the own crap.
I wonder what sort of protocol these in-the-know people have to follow - if any. Terrible beyond anything.
Nothing will be done until medical science perfects testicular and spinal transplants for DOJ.
Let’s see the pictures of the attractive young spy-hooker they honey-potted him with.
Its standard CCP operation procedure.
Oh no! Our government and universities are corrupt! this is shocking!
Not just the CCP, this has been going on since biblical times............
Every once in a while...
How many times do I need to say this!
President Trump it’s now past the time to suspend PRC visas for at least one year! DO IT NOW!!!
600K PRC STEM students? NO!!
No “Art of the Deal” here no matter how many times your ego is stroked!
If true, then death.
Also, claw back all $$$ he was paid.
Seize and auction his assets.
AND the bank accounts of friends and relatives... and ‘banks’ south of the border and large amounts of money spent on ‘lifestyle’ fun... and bankk deposit boxes. etc.
I’ve often wondered if Eisenhower’s warning re the MIC was referring to treasonous espionage as a vehicle to keep the money flowing.
Money always leaves a trail.
There is so much more in China. I worked in Ghanzou for a little while. Every factory was run by a white man. The Chinese couldn’t outthink a paper bag. I am sure if it wasn’t such a polluted filthy dump,I would have succumbed to the bribery and lifestyle they offered. But by now, I am sure they would have dumped my murdered body in the river once my usefulness had expired.
They don't even have to be very attractive ... Swalwell's petite amour was average at best. She must have been extraordinarily skillful ...
They’ll just install them in lesbians.
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