Former French Navy Pilot Formally Charged With Sharing Rafale Carrier Operations Intelligence With China

Pierre-Henri Chuet, a former French Navy Rafale and Super Étendard pilot who built a YouTube following of more than 560,000 subscribers as "Até Chuet," was presented to an investigating magistrate the week of July 20, 2026, and placed under formal investigation and judicial supervision by France's DGSI on four counts including disclosure of national defense secrets and intelligence activity with a foreign power 12. The case centers on two trips to China in September 2018 and August 2019, made while Chuet was still on active duty and, investigators allege, without informing his chain of command as required by military regulations 13. Defense News reports the trips were arranged and financed by a South African aviation firm and that Chuet conducted training seminars for Chinese military personnel on CATOBAR carrier operations and precision GPS landing procedures, with payments routed through his UK-based company, Mach 3 Management 1; the 2018 seminar focused on carrier landing technology while the 2019 session extended to naval aviator and landing signal officer training, the E-2C Hawkeye early-warning aircraft, and recent Western combat missions in Syria 13. PNC Contact identifies the South African intermediary as Test Flying Academy of South Africa 2. France's Ministry of the Armed Forces referred the matter to the Paris prosecutor's office on February 19, 2025, after which a preliminary investigation escalated to formal charges 13. Chuet has denied wrongdoing, telling Le Canard Enchaîné he conducted only two three-day seminars and has not returned to China since 2019 1.