Thomas Franz (General)

Thomas Franz (born July 14, 1953 in Plochingen ) is a German major general a. D. the Air Force . Most recently he was Commander of the Communications and Information Systems (CIS) Group of NATO and Deputy Chief of Staff (DCOS) of the CIS and Cyber Defense at the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Forces in Europe (SHAPE) in Mons (Belgium).

Military career

Training and first uses

Thomas Franz joined the Bundeswehr in 1974 . After basic training and an officer course at the Air Force Officer's School in Fürstenfeldbruck , he studied economics and organizational sciences at the Helmut Schmidt University of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg from 1976 to 1979 (degree in business administration). After the subsequent training as a telecommunications officer, he was employed as a platoon leader and company commander. In 1986 Franz was trained as a programming officer and took over the team leadership in a multinational programming center. From 1988 to 1990 Franz took part in the general staff training course at the command academy of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg.

Service as a staff officer

After serving as a planning staff officer at the command academy of the Bundeswehr and in the A6 area of the 5th Air Force Division, Franz was transferred to the Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg) in Bonn in 1993 . Until 1996 he worked as a consultant in the command staff of the armed forces (Fü S VI 3 - Conception of the Bundeswehr), then until 1998 as an adjutant to the Deputy Inspector General of the Bundeswehr . This was followed by a position as deputy commander and teaching group commander for training at the Technical School of the Air Force 3 in Faßberg . From 2000 to 2002 he was in command of the NATO Programming Center in Glons (municipality of Bassenge ) in Belgium . From 2002 to 2004 he was responsible for the development of the conception department in the Federal Office for Information Management and Information Technology of the Bundeswehr . In the next function he was responsible for planning the armed forces from 2004 to 2006 as head of department in the Fü S (BMVg). From 2006 to 2008 he was deputy head of the planning department in the armed forces headquarters.

Service as a general

From 2008 to 2012, Franz was Head of Department Command Support / G6 in the Armed Forces Support Command , Cologne (location: Rheinbach ). He then took over the post of Commander NATO CIS Group and DCOS CIS and Cyber Defense in Mons (Belgium). On July 31, 2015, Franz was retired.

Web links

Official NATO curriculum vitae (PDF, English) ( Memento from December 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Commander of NATO Communications and Information Systems Group Major General Thomas Franz paid a visit in Lithuania (English, several pictures by Franz)

Individual evidence

↑ Personnel changes in top military positions. BMVg press and information staff, February 8, 2008, archived from the original on June 15, 2008 ; Retrieved October 29, 2015 .
↑ Personnel changes in top military positions. (PDF; 33 kB) BMVg press and information staff, July 2, 2012, archived from the original on May 15, 2014 ; Retrieved October 29, 2015 .

personal data
SURNAME	Franz, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German Major General of the Air Force
DATE OF BIRTH	July 14, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH	Plochingen

[1] Personnel changes in top military positions. BMVg press and information staff, February 8, 2008, archived from the original on June 15, 2008 ; Retrieved October 29, 2015 .

[2] Personnel changes in top military positions. (PDF; 33 kB) BMVg press and information staff, July 2, 2012, archived from the original on May 15, 2014 ; Retrieved October 29, 2015 .