Chief of the Danish Defence | |
---|---|
Forsvarschefen | |
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]
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) [lower-alpha 1] | 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 | 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 | 107 days | Army | [15] |
The Danish Defence is the unified armed forces of the Kingdom of Denmark charged with the defence of Denmark and its self-governing territories Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The military also promote Denmark's wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts and provide humanitarian aid.
The Admiral Danish Fleet (ADMDANFLT) was the operationally supreme organisation of the Royal Danish Navy between 1 January 1991 and 30 September 2014.
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Bjørn Ingemann Bisserup is a Danish General, who served as acting Chief of Defence in 2009 and 2012, before becoming Chief of Defence in 2017. He left the role in December of 2020.
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Major General Hans-Christian Mathiesen is a former Chief of the Royal Danish Army, who was removed from his post following accusations of nepotism. In May 2020 he was found guilty of negligence, abuse of office, and passing on confidential information.
Jakob Ellemann-Jensen is a Danish former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Denmark and Minister of Defence under Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen from 2022 to 2023. He led the Venstre party from 2019 to 2023.
The Danish Defence Staff is a senior command authority within the Danish Defence, responsible for leadership, administration, and staff support.
The Mink Commission formally the Commission of Inquiry into the Case of the Culling of Mink is a Danish investigative commission set up by a majority in the Folketing in 2020 to investigate The Mink Case ; the culling of all minks in Denmark during the COVID-19 pandemic. It began its work on 23 April 2021. The commission consists of national judge Michael Kistrup, who is chairman, as well as law professor Helle Krunke from the University of Copenhagen and lawyer Ole Spiermann from the firm Bruun & Hjejle.
The National Police Commissioner of Denmark is the head of the Rigspolitiet, responsible for all activities of the police. The current Commissioner is Thorkild Fogde, he was sent home following the Mink scandal but returned to office following an investigation.
Lars Johan Findsen is a Danish jurist and former civil servant who served as chief of the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) from 2015 to 2020 when he was relieved of duty due to concerns from the regulatory body of the DDIS.
The Frederiksen II Cabinet is the current Government of Denmark, which took office on 15 December 2022. It succeeded the Frederiksen I Cabinet following the 2022 general election.
Events in the year 2023 in Denmark.
Kirkerup is a village in Slagelse Municipality in the Zealand Region of Denmark. It has a population of approximately 600 people and is situated on the western part of the island of Zealand. The village is the main village in the church district (sogn) of Kirkerup Sogn where the manor house Gyldenholm is located. The village lies three km from the town of Sørbymagle and 10 km from the main town of the municipality, Slagelse. In 2023, the town was the crime scene of a child abduction.
Lone Dencker Wisborg is a Danish diplomat, lawyer and civil servant. She is the current Permanent Representative of Denmark to NATO, having previously served as Ambassador of Denmark to the United States, from 2019 to 2022, the first woman to hold that position.