The Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army (C-LAS, Dutch: Commandant Landstrijdkrachten) is the executive commander of the Royal Netherlands Army and reports directly to the Chief of Defence. The Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army is statutorily a three-star general. The current C-LAS is Air Defense Artillery Lieutenant General Martin Wijnen. As of March 2024, Major General Jan Swillens will take office as the new Commander of the Army with simultaneous promotion to lieutenant general.
Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army | |
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Commandant Landstrijdkrachten | |
Royal Netherlands Army | |
Abbreviation | C-LAS |
Reports to | Chief of Defence |
Formation | 1954 |
First holder | Ben Hasselman |
Deputy | Deputy Commander |
Website | Official website |
The position of C-LAS was created on 5 September 2005 as part of a thorough reorganization within the Dutch Ministry of Defence in which the staffs (military and civilian) were reduced in size and an entire organizational layer was dropped. Before September 2005 the commanding officer of the Army was the Bevelhebber der Landstrijdkrachten (abbreviated BLS; the term also translates into English as Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army).
No. | Portrait | Name (birth–death) |
Term of office | Ref. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
1 | Lieutenant general Peter van Uhm (born 1955) |
5 September 2005 | 13 March 2008 | 2 years, 190 days | ||
2 | Lieutenant general Rob Bertholee (born 1955) |
13 March 2008 | 25 October 2011 | 3 years, 226 days | ||
3 | Lieutenant general Mart de Kruif (born 1958) |
25 October 2011 | 24 March 2016 | 4 years, 151 days | ||
4 | Lieutenant general Leo Beulen (born 1960) |
24 March 2016 | 28 August 2019 | 3 years, 157 days | [1][2] | |
5 | Lieutenant general Martin Wijnen (born 1966) |
28 August 2019 | Incumbent | 4 years, 237 days |