Christian Freuding is promoted to Inspector General of the Bundeswehr

The previous army inspector Christian Freuding will be the new inspector general of the Bundeswehr. The lieutenant general will succeed General Carsten Breuer at the beginning of February 2027, as the Defense Ministry announced on Thursday.

Breuer has been Inspector General of the Bundeswehr since March 2023. He was elected chairman of the NATO Military Committee in September and is moving to head the body in Brussels. It was originally said that he would take up this position in mid-2027.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) explained that Freuding had all the prerequisites to lead the soldiers “into the new age in which we have to protect ourselves better than in previous decades.” As head of the Ukraine Special Staff, Freuding analyzed the technical developments in the Russian war against Ukraine and drew conclusions for the Bundeswehr. As an army inspector, he quickly derived the right measures from this, for example when setting up the first drone regiment. Pistorius praised Freuding as an internationally recognized and convincing leader.

After the Russian attack on Ukraine in 2022, Freuding took over the management of the Ukraine Special Staff in the ministry and thus coordinated German military aid for the country. From 2023 to 2025 he headed the newly created planning and command staff in the ministry before being appointed Inspector of the Army in October 2025. Previously, the political science graduate was, among other things, brigade commander and adjutant to the then Defense Minister from 2017 to 2019. The army reconnaissance officer completed foreign missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Afghanistan.