The commander-in-chief of Defence Services () is the

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latit ...

of the

Tatmadaw Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include t ...

, the

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. Since a state of emergency was declared following the 2021 military coup d'état, the commander-in-chief has been the highest authority in the country, with

plenary power A plenary power or plenary authority is a complete and absolute power to take action on a particular issue, with no limitations. It is derived from the Latin term ''plenus'' ("full"). United States In United States constitutional law, plenary p ...

delegated by the president and the National Defence and Security Council. According to the 2008 Constitution of Myanmar, the commander-in-chief is appointed by the

president of Myanmar The president of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar () is the head of state and constitutional head of government of Myanmar. The president leads the Cabinet of Myanmar, the executive branch of the Burmese government. The current presid ...

upon nomination by the National Defence and Security Council (NDSC), chaired by the president; the commander-in-chief is also a member of the NDSC. Article 418 of the 2008 Constitution allows the commander-in-chief broad authority over the government if the president declares a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

in coordination with the NDSC. This happened after the 2021 military coup d'état: military-installed Acting President Myint Swe declared a state of emergency and transferred power to Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, who then formed a

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

, the State Administration Council. The current commander-in-chief is

Senior General Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used Suffix (name)#Generational titles, as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refe ...

Min Aung Hlaing Min Aung Hlaing ( my, မင်းအောင်လှိုင် abbreviated: MAL ; born 3 July 1956) also known as Alaungsithu is a Burmese politician and army general who has ruled Myanmar as the chairman of the State Administration C ...

, since 30 March 2011."New commander in chief of defence services: General Min Aung Hlaing"
, Mizzima, 30 March 2011.

List of commanders-in-chief

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:10 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:160 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1945 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1945 Define $now = 2022 Colors = id:time value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) LineData = layer:back width:0.1 color:time at:1945 at:1950 at:1955 at:1960 at:1965 at:1970 at:1975 at:1980 at:1985 at:1990 at:1995 at:2000 at:2005 at:2010 at:2015 at:2020 at:2025 at:2030 BarData = barset:PM bar:san bar:yar bar:dun bar:win bar:yu bar:oo bar:htin bar:maung bar:shwe bar:hlaing PlotData= width:6 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM bar:san from:1945 till:1947 color:red text:" Aung San" bar:yar from:1947 till:1948 color:red text:" Let Yar" bar:dun from:1948 till:1949 color:red text:" Smith Dun" bar:win from:1949 till:1972 color:red text:"

Ne Win Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...

" bar:yu from:1972 till:1974 color:red text:"

San Yu San Yu ( my, စန်းယု, ; 3 March 1918 – 28 January 1996) was a Burmese army general and statesman who served as the fifth president of Myanmar from 9 November 1981 to 27 July 1988. Biography San Yu, an ethnic Chinese, was born ...

" bar:oo from:1974 till:1976 color:red text:" Tin Oo" bar:htin from:1976 till:1985 color:red text:" Kyaw Htin" bar:maung from:1985 till:1992 color:red text:" Saw Maung" bar:shwe from:1992 till:2011 color:red text:"

Than Shwe Than Shwe ( my, သန်းရွှေ, ; born 2 February 1933 or 3 May 1935) is a Burmese strongman politician who was the head of state of Myanmar from 1992 to 2011 as Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). During thi ...

" bar:hlaing from:2011 till:$now color:red text:"

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Commander-in-Chief Of Defence Services Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services

Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services