Chief of Defence (Denmark)

Chief of the Danish Defence
Forsvarschefen
Coat of arms for the Chief of Defence
Standard of the Chief of Defence
Incumbent General Michael Hyldgaard  [ da ] since 1 June 2025
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 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.

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]

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	[6] [7]
2		General Kurt Ramberg  [ da ] (1908–1997)	1 October 1962	30 November 1972	10 years, 60 days	Air force	[6] [8]
3		General Otto Blixenkrone-Møller  [ da ] (1912–2006)	1 December 1972	30 April 1977	4 years, 150 days	Army	[6]
4		General Knud Jørgensen  [ da ] (1919–1990)	1 May 1977	30 September 1984	7 years, 152 days	Air force	[6]
5		General Otto K. Lind (1920–2000)	1 October 1984	30 November 1985	1 year, 60 days	Army	[6]
6		Admiral Sven Eigil Thiede  [ da ] (1924–2005)	1 December 1985	31 October 1989	3 years, 334 days	Navy	[6]
7		General Jørgen Lyng (born 1934)	1 November 1989	31 March 1996	6 years, 151 days	Army	[6]
8		Admiral Hans Jørgen Garde (1939–1996) [a]	1 April 1996	3 August 1996 †	124 days	Navy	[6]
–		General Christian 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		[6]
10		General Hans Jesper Helsø (born 1948)	1 October 2002	31 July 2008	5 years, 304 days	Army	[6]
11		Admiral Tim Sloth Jørgensen (born 1951)	1 August 2008	4 October 2009	1 year, 64 days	Navy	[6]
–		Lieutenant general Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) acting	5 October 2009	15 November 2009	41 days	Army	[6] [10]
12		General Knud Bartels (born 1952)	16 November 2009	2 January 2012	2 years, 47 days	Army	[6]
–		Lieutenant general Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) acting	2 January 2012	20 March 2012	78 days	Army	[11]
13		General Peter Bartram (born 1961)	20 March 2012	10 January 2017	4 years, 296 days	Army	[12] [13]
14		General Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960)	10 January 2017	1 December 2020	3 years, 326 days	Army	[13] [14]
15		General Flemming Lentfer (born 1964)	1 December 2020	3 April 2024	3 years, 124 days	Air force	[15] [16]
–		General Michael Hyldgaard  [ da ] (born 1964)	3 April 2024	1 June 2025	1 year, 59 days	Army	[16]
16			1 June 2025	Incumbent	42 days		[17]

Timeline

Notes

1. Died in a plane crash.

References

1. Frederiksen 2017.
2. Defence Command Denmark 2017.
3. 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.
4. /ritzau/ 2016a.
5. "FKOBST L.202 - 4: Ceremoniel i Forsvaret" (in Danish). Danish Defence. October 2019. p. Bilag 3 til Tillæg A. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
6. Balsved 2013.
7. Pontoppidan & Teisen 1984, p. 445.
8. Pontoppidan & Teisen 1984, p. 447.
9. Andersen 1996.
10. /ritzau/ 2009.
11. Kongehuset 2012.
12. Ministry of Defence 2012.
13. /ritzau/ 2016b.
14. Therkildsen & Redder 2016.
15. /ritzau/ 2020.
16. "Forsvarsministeren hjemsender forsvarschefen". Forsvaret (in Danish). 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
17. Hobel, Line Gjerlev (12 May 2025). "Fungerende forsvarschef Michael Hyldgaard bliver permanent forsvarschef". DR Nyheder (in Danish). Retrieved 1 June 2025.

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.