Chief of Defence (Denmark)
No Chief of Defence Took office Left office Time in office Defence branch
1 Qvistgaard , Erhard Jörgen Carl Admiral Erhard J.C. Qvistgaard ( 1898-1980 ) 1 October 1950 30 September 1962 11 years , 364 days Navy
2 Ramberg , Kurt Rudolph General Kurt Ramberg [ da ] ( 1908-1997 ) 1 October 1962 30 November 1972 10 years , 60 days Air force
3 Blixenkrone-Möller , Otto General Otto Blixenkrone-Møller [ da ] ( 1912-2006 ) 1 December 1972 30 April 1977 4 years , 150 days Army
4 Jörgensen , Knud General Knud Jørgensen [ da ] ( 1919-1990 ) 1 May 1977 30 September 1984 7 years , 152 days Air force
5 Lind , Otto Katharus General Otto K. Lind ( 1920-2000 ) 1 October 1984 30 November 1985 1 year , 60 days Army
6 Thiede , Sven Eigil Admiral Sven Eigil Thiede [ da ] ( 1924-2005 ) 1 December 1985 31 October 1989 3 years , 334 days Navy
7 Lyng , Jörgen General Jørgen Lyng ( born 1934 ) 1 November 1989 31 March 1996 6 years , 151 days Army
8 Garde , Hans Jörgen Admiral Hans Jørgen Garde ( 1939-1996 ) 1 April 1996 3 August 1996 † 124 days Navy
9 Hvidt , Christian General Christian Hvidt [ da ] ( born 1942 ) 20 August 1996 30 September 2002 6 years , 41 days Air force
10 Helsö , Hans Jesper General Hans Jesper Helsø ( born 1948 ) 1 October 2002 31 July 2008 5 years , 304 days Army
11 Jörgensen , Tim Sloth Admiral Tim Sloth Jørgensen ( born 1951 ) 1 August 2008 4 October 2009 1 year , 64 days Navy
- Bisserup , Björn Lieutenant General Bjørn Bisserup ( born 1960 ) Acting 5 October 2009 15 November 2009 41 days Army
12 Bartels , Knud General Knud Bartels ( born 1952 ) 16 November 2009 2 January 2012 2 years , 47 days Army
- Bisserup , Björn Lieutenant General Bjørn Bisserup ( born 1960 ) Acting 2 January 2012 20 March 2012 78 days Army
13 Bartram , Peter General Peter Bartram ( born 1961 ) 20 March 2012 10 January 2017 4 years , 296 days Army
14 Bisserup , Björn General Bjørn Bisserup ( born 1960 ) 10 January 2017 Incumbent 3 years , 194 days Army
List of Chiefs of Defence
The Chief of Defence of Denmark (), under responsibility of the Defence minister, is the Chief of Defence and commander of the Royal Danish Army, the Royal Danish Navy and the Royal Danish Air Force. The Chief of Defence is the military adviser to the Defence minister and head of the Defence Command. The Chief of Defence is the highest-ranking military officer in Denmark and has the rank of four-star General (or Admiral if from the Navy) (OF-9), and supervises roughly 93% of all military spending in Denmark. 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 2009. There is no fixed length of time associated with the position, the contract however currently has to be renewed every 5 years.