Highest-ranking professional military officer in the Danish Armed Forces
The Chief of Defence of Denmark (Danish : Forsvarschefen ), acting under the statutory responsibility of the Minister of Defence , is the chief of defence and commander of the Royal Danish Army , the Royal Danish Navy and the Royal Danish Air Force . The Chief of Defence is the principal military adviser to the Minister of Defence and the head of the Defence Command .
The Chief of Defence is the highest-ranking military officer on active duty in the Danish Armed Forces and has the rank of four-star General (or Admiral if from the Navy) (OF-9),[ 2] and supervises roughly 93% of all military spending in Denmark.[citation needed ]
The Danish Home Guard and Defence intelligence is directly under the Ministry of Defence , only in times of war will the Home Guard Command be transferred to the Defence Command, and thus come under the authority of the Chief of Defence.
The job was traditionally rotated evenly between the army, navy and air force. This tradition was abandoned in 2012.[ 3] There is no fixed length of time associated with the position, the contract however currently has to be renewed every 5 years.
Rank flags
Rank
General
Admiral
Flag[ 5]
List of officeholders
No.
Portrait
Name(born–died)
Term of office
Defence branch
Ref.
Took office
Left office
Time in office
1
Admiral Erhard J.C. Qvistgaard (1898–1980)
1 October 1950
30 September 1962
11 years, 364 days
Navy
2
General Kurt Ramberg [da ] (1908–1997)
1 October 1962
30 November 1972
10 years, 60 days
Air force
3
GeneralOtto Blixenkrone-Møller [da ] (1912–2006)
1 December 1972
30 April 1977
4 years, 150 days
Army
4
GeneralKnud Jørgensen [da ] (1919–1990)
1 May 1977
30 September 1984
7 years, 152 days
Air force
5
GeneralOtto K. Lind (1920–2000)
1 October 1984
30 November 1985
1 year, 60 days
Army
6
AdmiralSven Eigil Thiede [da ] (1924–2005)
1 December 1985
31 October 1989
3 years, 334 days
Navy
7
GeneralJørgen Lyng (born 1934)
1 November 1989
31 March 1996
6 years, 151 days
Army
8
AdmiralHans Jørgen Garde (1939–1996) [ a]
1 April 1996
3 August 1996 †
124 days
Navy
–
GeneralChristian Hvidt [da ] (born 1942)
3 August 1996
20 August 1996
17 days
Air force
[ 9]
9
20 August 1996
30 September 2002
6 years, 41 days
10
GeneralHans Jesper Helsø (born 1948)
1 October 2002
31 July 2008
5 years, 304 days
Army
11
AdmiralTim Sloth Jørgensen (born 1951)
1 August 2008
4 October 2009
1 year, 64 days
Navy
–
Lieutenant generalBjørn Bisserup (born 1960)acting
5 October 2009
15 November 2009
41 days
Army
12
GeneralKnud Bartels (born 1952)
16 November 2009
2 January 2012
2 years, 47 days
Army
–
Lieutenant generalBjørn Bisserup (born 1960)acting
2 January 2012
20 March 2012
78 days
Army
13
GeneralPeter Bartram (born 1961)
20 March 2012
10 January 2017
4 years, 296 days
Army
14
GeneralBjørn Bisserup (born 1960)
10 January 2017
1 December 2020
3 years, 326 days
Army
15
GeneralFlemming Lentfer (born 1964)
1 December 2020
3 April 2024
3 years, 124 days
Air force
[ 16]
–
GeneralMichael Hyldgaard [da ] (born 1964)
3 April 2024
1 June 2025
1 year, 59 days
Army
[ 16]
16
1 June 2025
Incumbent
69 days
[ 17]
Timeline
Notes
References
Bibliography
Command organisations Leadership Joint Service Higher education facilities Units
Army Navy Air Force Special Forces
Ranks and insignia
Chiefs of defence by country
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Americas
Asia
Europe
Oceania
Supranational