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.[1] The Chief of Defence is the principal military adviser to the Minister of Defence and the head of the Defence Command.
| Chief of the Danish Defence | |
|---|---|
| Forsvarschefen | |
.svg) Coat of arms for the Chief of Defence | |
 Standard of the Chief of Defence | |
_(cropped).jpg) | |
.svg){kind=small} Ministry of Defence | |
| Abbreviation | FC |
| Member of | Defence Command of Denmark |
| Reports to |  Minister of Defence |
| Appointer | Minister of Defence |
| Term length | Five years (renewable) |
| Constituting instrument | LBK Nr. 582 of 24/05/2017 §11–12 |
| Formation | 27 May 1950 |
| First holder | Admiral Erhard J.C. Qvistgaard |
| Deputy | Chief of the Defence Staff |
| Website | forsvaret.dk/high-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.[4]
List of officeholders
edit| 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 | [5][6] |
| 2 | 
|
General Kurt Ramberg (1908–1997) |
1 October 1962 | 30 November 1972 | 10 years, 60 days | Air force | [5][7] |
| 3 | 
|
General Otto Blixenkrone-Møller (1912–2006) |
1 December 1972 | 30 April 1977 | 4 years, 150 days | Army | [5] |
| 4 | 
|
General Knud Jørgensen (1919–1990) |
1 May 1977 | 30 September 1984 | 7 years, 152 days | Air force | [5] |
| 5 | 
|
General Otto K. Lind (1920–2000) |
1 October 1984 | 30 November 1985 | 1 year, 60 days | Army | [5] |
| 6 | 
|
Admiral Sven Eigil Thiede (1924–2005) |
1 December 1985 | 31 October 1989 | 3 years, 334 days | Navy | [5] |
| 7 | 
|
General Jørgen Lyng (born 1934) |
1 November 1989 | 31 March 1996 | 6 years, 151 days | Army | [5] |
| 8 | 
|
Admiral Hans Jørgen Garde (1939–1996)[a] |
1 April 1996 | 3 August 1996 † | 124 days | Navy | [5] |
| – | 
|
General Christian Hvidt (born 1942) |
3 August 1996 | 20 August 1996 | 17 days | Air force | [8] |
| 9 | 20 August 1996 | 30 September 2002 | 6 years, 41 days | [5] | |||
| 10 | 
|
General Hans Jesper Helsø (born 1948) |
1 October 2002 | 31 July 2008 | 5 years, 304 days | Army | [5] |
| 11 | 
|
Admiral Tim Sloth Jørgensen (born 1951) |
1 August 2008 | 4 October 2009 | 1 year, 64 days | Navy | [5] |
| – | 
|
Lieutenant general Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) acting |
5 October 2009 | 15 November 2009 | 41 days | Army | [5][9] |
| 12 | 
|
General Knud Bartels (born 1952) |
16 November 2009 | 2 January 2012 | 2 years, 47 days | Army | [5] |
| – |
|
Lieutenant general Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) acting |
2 January 2012 | 20 March 2012 | 78 days | Army | [10] |
| 13 | 
|
General Peter Bartram (born 1961) |
20 March 2012 | 10 January 2017 | 4 years, 296 days | Army | [11][12] |
| 14 | 
|
General Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) |
10 January 2017 | 1 December 2020 | 3 years, 326 days | Army | [12][13] |
| 15 | .jpg)
|
General Flemming Lentfer (born 1964) |
1 December 2020 | 3 April 2024 | 3 years, 124 days | Air force | [14][15] |
| – |
|
General Michael Hyldgaard (born 1964) acting |
3 April 2024 | Incumbent | 232 days | Army | [15] |
Timeline
edit
Notes
edit- ^ Died in a plane crash.
References
edit- ^ Frederiksen 2017.
- ^ Defence Command Denmark 2017.
- ^ Halskov, Lars [in Danish]; Svendsen, Jacob (28 January 2012). "Minister ændrer fundamentalt på udvælgelsen af forsvarschef". Politiken (in Danish). Archived from the original on 28 January 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ /ritzau/ 2016a.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Balsved 2013.
- ^ Pontoppidan & Teisen 1984, p. 445.
- ^ Pontoppidan & Teisen 1984, p. 447.
- ^ Andersen 1996.
- ^ /ritzau/ 2009.
- ^ Kongehuset 2012.
- ^ Ministry of Defence 2012.
- ^ a b /ritzau/ 2016b.
- ^ Therkildsen & Redder 2016.
- ^ /ritzau/ 2020.
- ^ a b "Forsvarsministeren hjemsender forsvarschefen". Forsvaret (in Danish). 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- Bibliography
- Andersen, Leif (20 August 1996). "Ny forsvarschef" (in Danish). Danske Nyheder. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
- Balsved, Johnny (27 September 2013). "Forsvarschefer". navalhistory.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 10 October 2020.
- Defence Command Denmark (16 January 2017). "The Chief of Defence". Defence Command Denmark. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- Frederiksen, Claus Hjort (24 May 2017). Holm, Jon Bach (ed.). "LBK nr 582 af 24/05/2017". retsinformation.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 9 October 2020.
- Kongehuset (1 January 2012). "Gæsteliste ved Nytårskur og -taffel 1. januar 2012" (in Danish). Retrieved 10 October 2020.
- Ministry of Defence (20 March 2012). "New Chief of Defence". fmn.dk. Danish Ministry of Defence. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- Pontoppidan, S. E.; Teisen, J., eds. (1984). Danske Søofficerer 1934-1983 (in Danish). Copenhagen: Søe-Lieutenant-Selskab.
- Therkildsen, Thomas Funding; Redder, Hans (6 November 2016). "Her er den nye chef for Forsvaret". tv2.dk (in Danish). TV2. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
- /ritzau/ (5 October 2009). "Bisserup vil ikke være forsvarschef". b.dk (in Danish). Berlingske. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
- /ritzau/ (10 November 2016a). "Her er Danmarks nye forsvarschef". b.dk (in Danish). Berlingske. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
- /ritzau/ (28 October 2016b). "Forsvarschef stopper: Jeg er klar til et karriereskifte". nyheder.tv2.dk (in Danish). TV2. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
- /ritzau/ (9 October 2020). "Flemming Lentfer bliver ny chef for Forsvaret". nyheder.tv2.dk (in Danish). TV2. Retrieved 9 October 2020.