Chinese expert deems leaked military documents ‘appear authentic

Online posts of purportedly secret documents relating to the F-35, F-15, and some advanced weapons systems appear to be authentic, according to a Chinese intelligence expert. The South China Morning Post, an independent newspaper in Hong Kong, reported that Tang, an executive of Beijing-based antivirus and security company Rising Information Technology, reviewed some of the documents posted on the encrypted forum Telegram by Ivan Ivanof, who claims to be a Russian military pilot.

The expert told the Morning Post the documents “appear authentic,” and Ivanof, who goes by the Telegram name Fighterbomber, claims to have 250 gigabytes more of similar documents. In his post, Ivanof said he obtained the documents from an American company. In addition to information on aircraft, they appear to contain data on the Switchblade drone system and guided missile systems.

The U.S. has not yet issued a statement on the alleged leak. Tang also mentioned that only government and military officials can determine whether the documents have any intelligence value.