Michel Hofman serves as the Chief of Defence of the

Belgian Armed Forces The Belgian Defense Forces ( nl, Defensie; french: La Défense) is the national military of Belgium. The King of the Belgians is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium became independ ...

since 10 July 2020. Prior to his post, he served as the Vice Chief of Defence.

Education and Background

Hofman finished high school at the Royal Cadet School at

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, before entering the Royal Military Academy in 1978 as a candidate naval officer, studying social and military sciences (118th All weapons class). He also studied at the Ecole de Guerre-Terre (formerly College Interarmées de Défense) at

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in 2000. He was assigned in several positions on board the ships of the

Belgian Navy The Belgian Navy, officially the Belgian Naval Component ( nl, Marinecomponent; french: Composante marine; german: Marinekomponente ) of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium. History Early history The Belgian Navy w ...

, ranging from minesweepers, mine hunters and frigates. From 1991 and 1997, he served at the Operations School of the Belgian Navy in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

, and later on board the M917 Crocus, where he took part in the operations during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

, and the F911 Westdiep. He also served at the

Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) is one of NATO's standing naval maritime immediate reaction forces. SNMG1 consists of four to six destroyers and frigates. Its role is to provide NATO with an immediate operational response capability. Hi ...

(STANAVFORLANT). In autumn 1997, he joined the Chief of Defence staff, Vice Admiral Herteleer. He commanded the F911 Westdiep in 2000, and took part on the

Operation Active Endeavour Operation Active Endeavour was a maritime operation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It operated in the Mediterranean Sea and was designed to prevent the movement of terrorists or weapons of mass destruction. It had collateral benefit ...

in response to the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. In 2002, he was appointed as the Chief of Staff to the Belgian-Dutch Task Group, and in January 2004, he became Deputy Operations Assistant to the Commander of the Marine Component and Deputy Chief Operations Officer at the

Admiral Benelux The Admiral Benelux (ABNL) is the Commanding Officer of the combined military staff of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Naval Component of the Belgian Armed Forces. The position of ABNL was created together with the combination of the Staffs o ...

. In 2006, he became the Deputy Officer and the Commander of the Operations Division within the Operations & Training Department of the Defence Staff. In 2010, he served as a Deputy Commander to French Command during the

Operation Atalanta Operation Atalanta, formally European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia, is a current counter-piracy military operation at sea off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean, that is the first naval operation conducted by the Eu ...

, and later served as the Commander of the

and also became the Deputy Admiral Benelux. In May 2015 he served again at the Operations & Training Department of the Defence Staff, first as the Deputy Operations Officer and later as the Head of the Department. He was promoted to Vice Admiral on 26 June 2016. He was appointed as Vice Chief of Defense in July 2017. On July 10, 2020, he was named as the new Chief of Defence, replacing General Marc Compernol.

Awards

Commander, Order of Leopold * BEL Kroonorde Commandeur BAR

Order of the Crown * BEL Order of Leopold II - Commander BAR

Commander,

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgium ...

First Class,

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

BEL Comm Medal for Foreign Missions or Operations

Commemorative Medal for Foreign Operations or Missions * Medaille Merite Militaire Belgique Ribbon

Meritorious Service Medal A Meritorious Service Medal is an award presented to denote acts of meritorious service, and sometimes gallantry, that are worthy of recognition. Notable medals with similar names include: * Meritorious Civilian Service Award *Meritorious Service Me ...

NATO Medal The NATO Medal is an international military decoration which is awarded to various militaries of the world under the authority of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is manufactured by Eekelers-Centini Intl, of Hemiksem, Belgium. ...

Personal life

He currently lives at the coastal town

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, and speaks fluent Dutch and French.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofman, Michel Living people Belgian admirals 20th-century Danish military personnel 21st-century Danish military personnel Year of birth missing (living people)