# Chief of Defence (Denmark)

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. 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), 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 2012. There is no fixed length of time associated with the position, the contract however currently has to be renewed every 5 years.

## List of officeholders

| No. | Portrait | Name (born–died) | Term of office | Term of office | Term of office | Defence branch | Ref. |
| No. | Portrait | Name (born–died) | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Defence branch | Ref. |
| 1 | | Admiral Erhard J.C. Qvistgaard (1898–1980) | 1 October 1950 | 30 September 1962 | 11 years, 364 days | Navy | |
| 2 | | General Kurt Ramberg [da] (1908–1997) | 1 October 1962 | 30 November 1972 | 10 years, 60 days | Air force | |
| 3 | | General Otto Blixenkrone-Møller [da] (1912–2006) | 1 December 1972 | 30 April 1977 | 4 years, 150 days | Army | |
| 4 | | General Knud Jørgensen [da] (1919–1990) | 1 May 1977 | 30 September 1984 | 7 years, 152 days | Air force | |
| 5 | | General Otto K. Lind (1920–2000) | 1 October 1984 | 30 November 1985 | 1 year, 60 days | Army | |
| 6 | | Admiral Sven Eigil Thiede [da] (1924–2005) | 1 December 1985 | 31 October 1989 | 3 years, 334 days | Navy | |
| 7 | | General Jørgen Lyng (born 1934) | 1 November 1989 | 31 March 1996 | 6 years, 151 days | Army | |
| 8 | | Admiral Hans Jørgen Garde (1939–1996) | 1 April 1996 | 3 August 1996 † | 124 days | Navy | |
| – | | General Christian Hvidt [da] (born 1942) | 3 August 1996 | 20 August 1996 | 17 days | Air force | |
| 9 | | General Christian Hvidt [da] (born 1942) | 20 August 1996 | 30 September 2002 | 6 years, 41 days | Air force | |
| 10 | | General Hans Jesper Helsø (born 1948) | 1 October 2002 | 31 July 2008 | 5 years, 304 days | Army | |
| 11 | | Admiral Tim Sloth Jørgensen (born 1951) | 1 August 2008 | 4 October 2009 | 1 year, 64 days | Navy | |
| – | | Lieutenant general Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) acting | 5 October 2009 | 15 November 2009 | 41 days | Army | |
| 12 | | General Knud Bartels (born 1952) | 16 November 2009 | 2 January 2012 | 2 years, 47 days | Army | |
| – | | Lieutenant general Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) acting | 2 January 2012 | 20 March 2012 | 78 days | Army | |
| 13 | | General Peter Bartram (born 1961) | 20 March 2012 | 10 January 2017 | 4 years, 296 days | Army | |
| 14 | | General Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) | 10 January 2017 | 1 December 2020 | 3 years, 326 days | Army | |
| 15 | | General Flemming Lentfer (born 1964) | 1 December 2020 | 3 April 2024 | 3 years, 124 days | Air force | |
| – | | General Michael Hyldgaard [da] (born 1964) acting | 3 April 2024 | Incumbent | 203 days | Army | |