Chief of Defence (Denmark)
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox official post
The Chief of Defence of Denmark (Template:Langx), 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.Template:Sfn 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),Template:Sfn and supervises roughly 93% of all military spending in Denmark.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
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.[1] There is no fixed length of time associated with the position, the contract however currently has to be renewed every 5 years.Template:Sfn
List of officeholders
| No. | Portrait | Name (born–died)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Term of office | Defence branch | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | |||||
| 1 | File:EJC Qvistgaard.jpeg | Admiral Erhard J.C. Qvistgaard (1898–1980)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
1 October 1950 | 30 September 1962 | Template:Ayd | Navy | Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn |
| 2 | File:General Kurt Rudolph Ramberg.jpg | General Template:Ill (1908–1997)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
1 October 1962 | 30 November 1972 | Template:Ayd | Air force | Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn |
| 3 | File:General Otto Blixenkrone-Møller.jpg | General Template:Ill (1912–2006)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
1 December 1972 | 30 April 1977 | Template:Ayd | Army | Template:Sfn |
| 4 | File:General Knud Jørgensen.png | General Template:Ill (1919–1990)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
1 May 1977 | 30 September 1984 | Template:Ayd | Air force | Template:Sfn |
| 5 | File:General Otto K. Lind.png | General Otto K. Lind (1920–2000)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
1 October 1984 | 30 November 1985 | Template:Ayd | Army | Template:Sfn |
| 6 | File:Admiral Sven Eigil Thiede.png | Admiral Template:Ill (1924–2005)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
1 December 1985 | 31 October 1989 | Template:Ayd | Navy | Template:Sfn |
| 7 | File:Official Jørgen Lyng portrait.jpg | General Jørgen Lyng (born 1934)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
1 November 1989 | 31 March 1996 | Template:Ayd | Army | Template:Sfn |
| 8 | File:Admiral Hans Jørgen Garde.jpg | Admiral Hans Jørgen Garde (1939–1996)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Efn |
1 April 1996 | 3 August 1996 † | Template:Ayd | Navy | Template:Sfn |
| – | File:Official Christian Hvidt portrait.jpg | General Template:Ill (born 1942)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
3 August 1996 | 20 August 1996 | Template:Ayd | Air force | Template:Sfn |
| 9 | 20 August 1996 | 30 September 2002 | Template:Ayd | Template:Sfn | |||
| 10 | File:General Hans Jesper Helsø.jpg | General Hans Jesper Helsø (born 1948)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
1 October 2002 | 31 July 2008 | Template:Ayd | Army | Template:Sfn |
| 11 | File:T.Sloth3.jpg | Admiral Tim Sloth Jørgensen (born 1951)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
1 August 2008 | 4 October 2009 | Template:Ayd | Navy | Template:Sfn |
| – | File:Bjørn Bisserup.jpg | Lieutenant general Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) actingScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
5 October 2009 | 15 November 2009 | Template:Ayd | Army | Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn |
| 12 | File:General Knud Bartels NATO.jpg | General Knud Bartels (born 1952)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
16 November 2009 | 2 January 2012 | Template:Ayd | Army | Template:Sfn |
| – | File:Bjørn Bisserup.jpg | Lieutenant general Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) actingScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2 January 2012 | 20 March 2012 | Template:Ayd | Army | Template:Sfn |
| 13 | File:Peter Bertram.png | General Peter Bartram (born 1961)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
20 March 2012 | 10 January 2017 | Template:Ayd | Army | Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn |
| 14 | File:Bjørn Bisserup General 2017.jpg | General Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
10 January 2017 | 1 December 2020 | Template:Ayd | Army | Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn |
| 15 | File:General Flemming Lentfer, Chief of Defence, Denmark, at the Pentagon on November 30, 2023 (cropped).jpg | General Flemming Lentfer (born 1964)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
1 December 2020 | 3 April 2024 | Template:Ayd | Air force | Template:Sfn[2] |
| – | File:Michael Hyldgaard (DVIDS 8646868) (cropped).jpg | General Template:Ill (born 1964)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
3 April 2024 | 1 June 2025 | Template:Ayd | Army | [2] |
| 16 | 1 June 2025 | Incumbent | Template:Ayd | [3]
Template:Officeholder table end Timeline<timeline> ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:10 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1950 till:01/01/2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1950 Define $now = 16/12/2025 Colors = id:DA value:green legend: Army id:RDN value:darkblue legend: Navy id:RDAF value:skyblue legend: Air_Force id:time value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) Legend = orientation:vertical position:right LineData = layer:back width:0.2 color:time at:01/01/1950 at:01/01/1955 at:01/01/1960 at:01/01/1965 at:01/01/1970 at:01/01/1975 at:01/01/1980 at:01/01/1985 at:01/01/1990 at:01/01/1995 at:01/01/2000 at:01/01/2005 at:01/01/2010 at:01/01/2015 at:01/01/2020 BarData = barset:PM bar:Qvistgaard bar:Ramberg bar:Blixenkrone-Møller bar:Jørgensen bar:Lind bar:Thiede bar:Lyng bar:Garde bar:Hvidt bar:Helsø bar:S.Jørgensen bar:Bartels bar:Bartram bar:Bisserup bar:Lentfer PlotData= width:6 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM bar:Qvistgaard from: 01/10/1950 till: 30/09/1962 color:RDN text:Erhard J.C. Qvistgaard bar:Ramberg from: 01/10/1962 till: 30/11/1972 color:RDAF text:Kurt Rudolph Ramberg bar:Blixenkrone-Møller from: 01/12/1972 till: 30/04/1977 color:DA text:Otto Blixenkrone-Møller bar:Jørgensen from: 01/05/1977 till: 30/09/1984 color:RDAF text:Knud Jørgensen bar:Lind from: 01/10/1984 till: 30/11/1985 color:DA text:Otto K. Lind bar:Thiede from: 01/12/1985 till: 31/10/1989 color:RDN text:Sven Eigil Thiede bar:Lyng from: 01/11/1989 till: 31/03/1996 color:DA text:Jørgen Lyng bar:Garde from: 01/04/1996 till: 03/08/1996 color:RDN text:Hans Jørgen Garde† bar:Hvidt from: 20/08/1996 till: 30/09/2002 color:RDAF text:Christian Hvidt bar:Helsø from: 01/10/2002 till: 31/07/2008 color:DA text:Hans Jesper Helsø bar:S.Jørgensen from: 01/08/2008 till: 04/10/2009 color:RDN text:Tim Sloth Jørgensen bar:Bartels from: 16/11/2009 till: 02/01/2012 color:DA text:Knud Bartels bar:Bartram from: 20/03/2012 till: 10/01/2017 color:DA text:Peter Bartram bar:Bisserup from: 10/01/2017 till: 01/12/2020 color:DA text:Bjørn Bisserup bar:Lentfer from: 01/12/2020 till: 03/04/2024 color:RDAF text:Flemming Lentfer </timeline> NotesReferences
Template:Military of Denmark Template:Chief of military by country |
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