US files forfeiture action for aircrew training equipment seized en route from South African company to China

A photo published by the US DoJ on 15 January 2026 showing what the DoJ called mission crew trainers seized inside a shipping container. (US Department of Justice)

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a 15 January 2026 press release that it had filed a forfeiture complaint over what it called two mission crew trainers (MCTs) which it revealed were “inderdicted in transit” while being shipped from flight training company Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) to China.

Shipping containers holding the training equipment were seized by US authorities before they could be transferred. The DoJ declined to tell Janes when and where the mission crew trainers were seized. Along with a statement on 15 January TFASA published what it called a previously private internal company report that said the containers were “scheduled for transshipment in Singapore, where they were reportedly confiscated by US authorities in November 2024.”

The DoJ said that “the MCTs are mobile classrooms intended to assist the PLA [People's Liberation Army] to train personnel on the use of airborne warning and control system and anti-submarine warfare [ASW] aircraft”, adding that “The purpose of the MCT project – dubbed ‘Project Elgar' by TFASA personnel – was to train PLA aviators on anti-submarine warfare techniques, expanding their capability to locate and track US submarines working in the Pacific.”