Chief of Defence (Denmark)

The Chief of Defence of Denmark (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
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! rowspan=2| No. ! rowspan=2| Portrait ! rowspan=2| Name (born–died) ! colspan=3| Term of office ! rowspan=2| Defence branch ! rowspan=2| Ref. ! Took office ! Left office ! Time in office Erhard J.C. Qvistgaard (1898–1980) Kurt Ramberg (1908–1997) Otto Blixenkrone-Møller (1912–2006) Knud Jørgensen (1919–1990) Otto K. Lind (1920–2000)
 * 1
 * EJC Qvistgaard.jpeg
 * Admiral
 * Admiral
 * 1 October 1950
 * 30 September 1962
 * Navy
 * 2
 * General Kurt Rudolph Ramberg.jpg
 * General
 * 2
 * General Kurt Rudolph Ramberg.jpg
 * General
 * 1 October 1962
 * 30 November 1972
 * Air force
 * 3
 * General Otto Blixenkrone-Møller.jpg
 * General
 * 3
 * General Otto Blixenkrone-Møller.jpg
 * General
 * 1 December 1972
 * 30 April 1977
 * Army
 * 4
 * General Knud Jørgensen.png
 * General
 * 4
 * General Knud Jørgensen.png
 * General
 * 1 May 1977
 * 30 September 1984
 * Air force
 * 5
 * General Otto K. Lind.png
 * General
 * 5
 * General Otto K. Lind.png
 * General
 * 1 October 1984
 * 30 November 1985
 * Army
 * Army

Sven Eigil Thiede (1924–2005) Jørgen Lyng (born 1934) Hans Jørgen Garde (1939–1996) Christian Hvidt (born 1942) Hans Jesper Helsø (born 1948) Tim Sloth Jørgensen (born 1951) Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) acting Knud Bartels (born 1952) Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) acting Peter Bartram (born 1961) Bjørn Bisserup (born 1960) Flemming Lentfer (born 1964) Michael Hyldgaard (born 1964) acting
 * 6
 * Admiral Sven Eigil Thiede.png
 * Admiral
 * Admiral
 * 1 December 1985
 * 31 October 1989
 * Navy
 * 7
 * Official Jørgen Lyng portrait.jpg
 * General
 * 7
 * Official Jørgen Lyng portrait.jpg
 * General
 * 1 November 1989
 * 31 March 1996
 * Army
 * 8
 * Admiral Hans Jørgen Garde.jpg
 * Admiral
 * 8
 * Admiral Hans Jørgen Garde.jpg
 * Admiral
 * 1 April 1996
 * 3 August 1996 †
 * Navy
 * style="background:#e6e6aa;"| –
 * rowspan=2| Official Christian Hvidt portrait.jpg
 * rowspan=2| General
 * style="background:#e6e6aa;"| –
 * rowspan=2| Official Christian Hvidt portrait.jpg
 * rowspan=2| General
 * style="background:#e6e6aa;"| 3 August 1996
 * style="background:#e6e6aa;"| 20 August 1996
 * style="background:#e6e6aa;"|
 * rowspan=2| Air force
 * style="background:#e6e6aa;"|
 * 9
 * 20 August 1996
 * 30 September 2002
 * 10
 * General Hans Jesper Helsø.jpg
 * General
 * 10
 * General Hans Jesper Helsø.jpg
 * General
 * General
 * 1 October 2002
 * 31 July 2008
 * Army
 * 11
 * T.Sloth3.jpg
 * Admiral
 * 11
 * T.Sloth3.jpg
 * Admiral
 * 1 August 2008
 * 4 October 2009
 * Navy
 * -style="background:#e6e6aa;"
 * Bjørn Bisserup.jpg
 * Lieutenant general
 * Bjørn Bisserup.jpg
 * Lieutenant general
 * Lieutenant general
 * 5 October 2009
 * 15 November 2009
 * Army
 * 12
 * General Knud Bartels NATO.jpg
 * General
 * 12
 * General Knud Bartels NATO.jpg
 * General
 * 16 November 2009
 * 2 January 2012
 * Army
 * -style="background:#e6e6aa;"
 * Bjørn Bisserup.jpg
 * Lieutenant general
 * Bjørn Bisserup.jpg
 * Lieutenant general
 * Lieutenant general
 * 2 January 2012
 * 20 March 2012
 * Army
 * 13
 * Peter Bertram.png
 * General
 * 13
 * Peter Bertram.png
 * General
 * 20 March 2012
 * 10 January 2017
 * Army
 * 14
 * Bjørn Bisserup General 2017.jpg
 * General
 * 14
 * Bjørn Bisserup General 2017.jpg
 * General
 * 10 January 2017
 * 1 December 2020
 * Army
 * 15
 * [[File:General Flemming Lentfer, Chief of Defence, Denmark, at the Pentagon on November 30, 2023 (cropped).jpg|80px]]
 * General
 * 15
 * [[File:General Flemming Lentfer, Chief of Defence, Denmark, at the Pentagon on November 30, 2023 (cropped).jpg|80px]]
 * General
 * 1 December 2020
 * 3 April 2024
 * Air force
 * -style="background:#e6e6aa;"
 * Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard DVIDS7231908 (cropped).jpg
 * General
 * Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard DVIDS7231908 (cropped).jpg
 * General
 * General
 * 3 April 2024
 * Incumbent
 * Army
 * Army