Chief of Defence (Denmark)

{{Short description|Highest-ranking professional military officer in the Danish Armed Forces}}

{{Infobox official post

| post = Chief

| body = the Danish Defence

| native_name = {{lang|da|Forsvarschefen}}

| insignia = Emblem of the Chief of Defence (Denmark).svg

| insigniasize =

| insigniacaption = Coat of arms for the Chief of Defence

| flag = Standard of the Chief of the Defense Staff of Denmark.svg

| flagsize =

| flagborder =

| flagcaption = Standard of the Chief of Defence

| image = Michael Hyldgaard (DVIDS 8646868) (cropped).jpg

| imagesize =

| alt =

| incumbent = General {{ill|Michael Hyldgaard|da}}

| acting =

| incumbentsince = 1 June 2025

| department = Ministry of Defence

| style =

| type =

| status =

| abbreviation = FC

| member_of = Defence Command of Denmark

| reports_to = {{flagicon image|Standard of the Minister of Defense of Denmark.svg|border=}} Minister of Defence

| residence =

| seat =

| nominator =

| appointer = Minister of Defence

| appointer_qualified =

| termlength = Five years

| termlength_qualified = (renewable)

| constituting_instrument = [https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2017/582 LBK Nr. 582 of 24/05/2017 §11–12]

| precursor =

| formation = 27 May 1950

| first = Admiral Erhard J.C. Qvistgaard

| last =

| abolished =

| succession =

| unofficial_names =

| deputy = Chief of the Defence Staff

| salary =

| website = {{website|https://forsvaret.dk/en/about-us/high-command/|forsvaret.dk/high-command}}

}}

The Chief of Defence of Denmark ({{Langx|da|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.{{sfn|Frederiksen|2017}} 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),{{sfn|Defence Command Denmark|2017}} and supervises roughly 93% of all military spending in Denmark.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

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.{{cite news |last1=Halskov |first1=Lars |last2=Svendsen |first2=Jacob |author1-link=:da:Lars Bork Halskov |title=Minister ændrer fundamentalt på udvælgelsen af forsvarschef |url=http://politiken.dk/indland/ECE1522626/minister-aendrer-fundamentalt-paa-udvaelgelsen-af-forsvarschef/ |access-date=3 April 2024 |work=Politiken |date=28 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128231313/http://politiken.dk/indland/ECE1522626/minister-aendrer-fundamentalt-paa-udvaelgelsen-af-forsvarschef/ |archive-date=28 January 2012 |language=da}} There is no fixed length of time associated with the position, the contract however currently has to be renewed every 5 years.{{sfn|/ritzau/|2016a}}

List of officeholders

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! rowspan=2| {{Abbr|No.|Number}}

! rowspan=2| Portrait

! rowspan=2| Name
{{small|(born–died)}}

! colspan=3| Term of office

! rowspan=2| Defence branch

! rowspan=2| {{Abbr|Ref.|Refences}}

! Took office

! Left office

! Time in office

| 1

Chief of Defence (Denmark)

List of officeholders

=Timeline=

Notes

References