Thierry Burkhard

Thierry Burkhard (born 30 July 1964) is a French Army general who has served as Chief of the Defence Staff since 22 July 2021. He previously served as Inspector of the French Army (2018–2019) and Chief of Staff of the French Army (2019–2021).

Thierry Burkhard
General Burkhard in 2024
Chief of the Defence Staff
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 July 2021
Preceded by	François Lecointre
Chief of Staff of the French Army
In office 31 July 2019 – 21 July 2021
Preceded by	Jean-Pierre Bosser
Succeeded by	Pierre Schill
Personal details
Born	(1964-07-30) 30 July 1964 Delle, France
Military service
Allegiance	France
Branch/service	French Army
Years of service	1989–present
Rank	Army General
Commands	CEMAT, CEMA

As an officer, Burkhard was deployed overseas a number of times. 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 career

A native of Delle, Territoire de Belfort, Burkhard enrolled at Saint-Cyr Military Academy in 1985. After a year of post-academy training, he graduated as infantry and was posted for continual service in the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment in Corsica. He served from 1989 to 1997.

He served in the operations command in Iraq, as operations officer in the 4th Foreign Regiment, and with the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Guiana. He also served in Gabon and Chad, during the Yugoslavia Crisis, and during the civil war in Côte d’Ivoire. He also served in Afghanistan on two occasions, while he was still the deputy Communications Director of the Joint Staff. He was later promoted to the command of the 13e DBLE in Djibouti.

Commands

Thierry Burkhard joined the Information and Public Relations Service of the Armed Forces in 2010. 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 in 2015 and the Inspector General of the Army. He was commander of the Operations Planning and Control Center. He was the Chief of Conduct in the Center for Planning and Conduct of Operations Paris before he rose to be in the commands. He later became the Chief of the French Army in July 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 Operation Resolute Support (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.

Citations

• "France's army chief Lecointre steps down, replaced by general Burkhard". Arab News. Reuters. 13 June 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
• Anita (22 July 2021). "who is General Thierry Burkhard, future chief of staff of the armed forces". News.in.24.
• "Général d'armée Thierry BURKHARD – Chef d'état-major des armées" (PDF). North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
• "General Thierry Burkhard". AUSA. 4 November 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2021.