# Thierry Burkhard

Thierry Burkhard (French pronunciation:; born 30 July 1964) is a French Army general who has served as Chief of the Defence Staff since 22 July 2021. Prior to his appointment to the top post, Burkhard previously served as Chief of Staff of the French Army from 2019 to 2021 and as Inspector of the French Army from 2018 to 2019.
As an officer, Burkhard was deployed overseas in a variety of missions. He served in the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2$^e$ REP) and held command of the 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion (13$^e$ DBLE) in Djibouti.

## Early life and education

A native of Delle, Territoire de Belfort, Burkhard enrolled at Saint-Cyr Military Academy in 1985 and completed infantry courses at the École de l'infanterie from 1988 to 1989. Burkhard also completed the Advanced Staff Course at École supérieure de guerre in 2000.

## Military career

After a year of post-academy training, Burkhard graduated as infantry and was posted for continual service in the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment in Corsica. He served the regiment from 1989 to 1996, where he was first served in the operations command in overseas missions such as in Iraq during the Gulf War in 1991, where he was part of the units deployed for Opération Daguet and was later deployed to Bosnia during the Yugoslavia Crisis on 1992 to 1993 as part of the United Nations Protection Force during the Bosnian War. In 1996, Burkhard would later serve as a member of the Joint Staff at the Centre for Planning and Execution of Operations (CPCO) in Paris. Burkhard later served as operations officer in the 4th Foreign Regiment. Burkhard also served in missions in Gabon and Chad. Burkhard was later promoted to the command of the 13e DBLE in Djibouti in 2010.
Burkhard later served as the head of the operations division at the Armed Forces based in French Guiana from 2002 to 2004, and later served under Joint Staff as deputy to the J3 EUROPE/CPCO. Burkhard would later be involved on Opération Licorne in 2006 during the civil war in Côte d’Ivoire, before serving as a deputy under Admiral Christophe Prazuck in 2007. Burkhard later served as a deputy communications advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff from 2007 to 2008, and was later deployed to Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Burkhard would later serve as the commander of the 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion from 2008 to 27 July 2010 joined the Information and Public Relations Service of the Armed Forces in 2010, before being named as the communications advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff from August 2010 to 2013. In 2013, he became the Joint Staff Communications Directorate Director, through which he was made the J3 of the French Joint Staff under National Intelligence as coordinator and adviser of military intelligence to the President. Burkhard later served as a member of the Special Staff of the President from August 2014 to August 2015, and in 2015 and the Inspector General of the Army. He was named as deputy commander of the Centre for Planning and Execution of Operations from August 2015 to August 2017, as he later served as commander of the same unit.
Burkhard would later became the Chief of the French Army in July 2019, before being named as on 21 July 2021. His appointment came after the announcement of the resignation of General François Lecointre on 13 July 2021 as a move to avoid being dragged in political debates before the 2022 French presidential election and on the initiation of drawing down military operations on Mali. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, General Burkhard supported the initiatives made by President Emmanuel Macron to deliver weapons, vehicles, and supplies to Ukraine. On March 2024, amidst the plans to the deployment of troops to Ukraine, Burkhard supported the proposal made by President Macron and echoed his words on the possibility of further involvement in Ukraine, which includes manning weapon systems, training Ukrainian troops, initiate cyber attacks on Russian positions and demining operations.

## Dates of promotion

| Cadet | Aspirant | Sub-lieutenant | Lieutenant | Captain | Commandant |
| 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1992 | 1997 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Colonel | Brigade general | Division general | Corps general | Army general |
| 2001 | 2005 | 2014 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |

## Honours and decorations
### National honours

* Grand Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour
* Commander of the National Order of Merit
* Cross for Military Valour – Silver-Gilt Star
* Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures – Bronze star
* Combatant's Cross
* Overseas Medal
* National Defence Medal – Bronze star
* French commemorative medal

### Foreign honours

* Second Class of the Order of the Cross of the Eagle (Estonia)
* Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia) (KSA)
* Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)
* NATO Medal for the former Yugoslavia (NATO)
* NATO Non-article 5 Medal for International Security Assistance Force (NATO)
* Commander of the Order of the Star of Romania (Romania)
* Commander of the National Order of the Lion (Senegal)
* UNPROFOR Medal (United Nations)
* Gold Polish Army Medal (Poland)
* Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy, 2024)
* Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (Australia) – 8 May 2024 (authorised 19 April 2024) – For distinguished service as the Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces.

### Badges

* French Parachutist Badge
* Chief of the Defence Staff Badge

## Personal life

Burkhard came from a family of protestants. He is married and has three children.