The Times: Scientist held amid fears of Chinese plot to steal secrets of F-35B jet
A British scientist who held a senior position at Rolls-Royce has been arrested amid fears that the Chinese government tried to steal secrets about the RAF’s new £100 million stealth fighter jet.
Bryn Jones, the company’s former chief combustion technologist, was held after MI5 learnt that classified defence information may have been leaked to Beijing, according to
The Sun. The scientist, 73, was questioned in connection with the alleged plot on Tuesday after a sting by officers from Scotland Yard’s SO15 counterterrorism command. He was detained at his home in Derbyshire on suspicion of breaching the Official Secrets Act, according to the newspaper.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “At approximately 14.25 on Tuesday officers arrested a man in Derbyshire as part of an investigation under the Official Secrets Act. The man, who is in his 70s and worked within private industry, has been taken to a police station in Derbyshire where he remains in custody. We are not prepared to discuss further at this stage given the nature of the investigation”.
The offices of a West Midlands company linked to Professor Jones, a married father of five, were also searched during the police operation, which is said to centre on fears over Rolls-Royce’s top-secret work on the F-35B jet.......
Professor Jones, who has been married to Dorothy, 75, for 49 years, describes himself as a visiting professor in gas turbine combustion at the Aeronautical University of Xian, central China.
After leaving Manchester Grammar School in 1963, he studied mechanical engineering at the city’s university. On graduating in 1968 he started a job in Rolls-Royce’s combustion engineering section and stayed in the role for 28 years. In 1996 he became chief of combustion technology acquisition, which involved “assessing military and civil product needs”. Four years later he was made chief combustion technologist. Professor Jones is thought to have left Rolls-Royce in 2003 and launched a consultancy firm. It is understood that he would have had to have signed the Official Secrets Act because of the nature of his work at Rolls-Royce.
Police were seen carrying boxes away from his £400,000 four-bedroom home in Derbyshire, a 20-minute drive away from Rolls-Royce’s HQ. He now works as a combustion engineer for Bladon Jets in Coventry........
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/652380...r-jet-secrets/