The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the state organisation responsible for defending the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FARDC was rebuilt patchily as part of the peace process which followed the end of the Second Congo War in July 2003.
Brigadier general or brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000 troops.
A commander-in-chief or supreme commander is the person who exercises supreme command and control over an armed force or a military branch. As a technical term, it refers to military competencies that reside in a country's executive leadership, a head of state, head of government, or other designated government official.
The War Office has referred to several British government organisations in history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). It was at that time, equivalent to the Admiralty, responsible for the Royal Navy (RN), and the Air Ministry, which oversaw the Royal Air Force (RAF). The name 'War Office' is also given to the former home of the department, located at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall in central London. The landmark building was sold on 1 March 2016 by HM Government for more than £350 million, on a 250 year lease for conversion into a luxury hotel and residential apartments.
The Rwanda Defence Force is the military of the Republic of Rwanda. The country's armed forces were originally known as the Forces armées rwandaises (FAR),but following the Rwandan Civil War of 1990–1994 and the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the victorious Rwandan Patriotic Front (Inkotanyi) renamed it the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), its army name during the struggle of 1990–1994. Later, it was renamed to its current name.
The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) is a statutory office held by the professional head of the Indian Army (IA), the land forces branch of the Indian Armed Forces. Customarily held by a four-star general officer, the COAS is the senior-most operational officer of the IA, tasked with the roles of overseeing the overall functioning of the force during peace and wartime, committing to the preparation and maintenance of the force's operational effectiveness and defending the nation's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Augustin Ndindiliyimana is a former Rwandan General and Chief of the Rwandan National Gendarmerie. He was convicted of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda but he was acquitted by the tribunal upon appeal.
The Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Tentera) is a decoration awarded to members of the Singapore Armed Forces and allied military members for exceptionally distinguished service or merit in senior command or staff positions.
The Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Tentera) is a decoration awarded to members of the Singapore Armed Forces for exceptionally distinguished performance or extraordinary service, or the furtherance of links with overseas forces.
Air Chief Marshal Stuart William Peach, Baron Peach, is a British retired senior Royal Air Force officer. After training as a navigator, Peach commanded IX (Bomber) Squadron and then became Deputy Station Commander RAF Bruggen. He was deployed as NATO Air Commander (Forward) in Kosovo in 2000. He went on to be Chief of Defence Intelligence in 2006, Chief of Joint Operations in 2009 and the first Commander of Joint Forces Command in December 2011 before being appointed Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff in May 2013. Peach succeeded General Sir Nick Houghton as Chief of the Defence Staff on 14 July 2016. He succeeded General Petr Pavel as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee on 29 June 2018, serving as such until his retirement from NATO in June 2021.
Head of the Armed Forces is the position of the sovereign of the United Kingdom as commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces. Supreme military authority vests in the monarch and extends to the exercise of several personal prerogatives. However, routine administration of the military is delegated as a matter of law to the Defence Council of the United Kingdom, a body officially charged with the direction and command of the Armed Forces. As the Defence Council and its service boards are all a part of the Ministry of Defence, which itself is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom, the prime minister makes the key decisions on the use of the Armed Forces, while the secretary of state for defence assists the prime minister in the development of defence policy and administers the day-to-day military operations.
Lieutenant General Ben Akafia is a retired Ghanaian military officer and served as the Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces from October 1996 to February 2001. He took over from Air Marshal Achilles Harry Kwami Dumashie and handed over to Lieutenant General Seth Kofi Obeng. He was appointed in 2001 as Ghana's Ambassador to Egypt. He was awarded the National Honour of Member of the Order of the Star of Ghana (MSG) by the President of Ghana on 6 January 2001. He has five sons and a daughter.
General Angus John Campbell, is a retired senior officer in the Australian Army, who served as the Chief of the Defence Force from 6 July 2018 until 10 July 2024. He was previously posted as Commander Operation Sovereign Borders from September 2013 until he was appointed Chief of Army in May 2015.
General Anil Chauhan is a four-star general of the Indian Army, who is the current and 2nd Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Indian Armed Forces, since 30 September 2022.
Lieutenant General Rocky Ricardo Meade is a Jamaican military leader who was the third Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), serving from December 2016 to January 2022.
Muhammad Ashraful Islam is a retired major general in the Bangladesh Army. He is former chairman of the Bangladesh Tea Board. Earlier, he served as Senior Directing Staff (Army-3) at the National Defence College.
Oleksandr Stanislavovych Syrskyi is a Ukrainian military officer. Holding the rank of four-star general, he has served as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 8 February 2024. Previously, he was the commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces from 2019 to 2024, and the commander of the Joint Forces Operation from May to August 2019.
Guillaume Kavaruganda is a Rwandan career diplomat who has spent the majority of his career serving in a number of diplomatic capacities.
Air Marshal Sujeet Pushpakar Dharkar, PVSM, AVSM is a serving air officer of the Indian Air Force. He is currently serving as the 48th Vice Chief of the Air Staff. He previously served as the Air Officer Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command, prior to that he was the Senior Air Staff Officer of the South Western Air Command, Gandhinagar. He also served as the first Director General of the newly formed Defence Space Agency at Bengaluru.
The Chief of the Defence Staff is the highest-ranked officer in the Rwanda Defence Force.
