7 days ago
Fighter pilot 'Hawk' takes charge of German Air Force
A 56-year-old fighter pilot, Lieutenant General Holger Neumann, has been appointed as the new head of the German Air Force.
Neumann was inaugurated on Tuesday at a roll call ceremony at an airbase in Wunstorf, in the state of Lower Saxony.
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that Neumann had learned the job from the bottom up and was held in high regard by the troops.
"The tasks remain challenging or are becoming even more challenging," Pistorius said, citing the war in Europe and the goal of securing NATO's eastern flank close to Russia.
The inspector general of the German military, Carsten Breuer, said that the air force had come together under its outgoing chief, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz. Gerhartz had made the air force "fit for war," Breuer said.
He called Neumann a top general and a "Eurofighter pilot with a heart and soul."
After seven years as the leader of the air force, Gerhartz will become commander of the NATO headquarters in Brunssum in the Netherlands.
Neumann completed his basic military service with the paratroopers in 1988 and 1989. Most recently, he was commander of the Tactical Air Force Squadrons, air transport units and training facilities in the Air Force Troop Command.
Neumann - whose pilot's name is Hawk - has completed 2,800 flying hours on various types of aircraft such as the Tornado and Eurofighter.
The new inspector general of the Luftwaffe will help oversee the deployment of the Arrow 3 air defence system. The first parts of the system will be set up in the coming year.
The Israeli system is designed to destroy incoming missiles at altitudes exceeding 100 kilometres.
