Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services
Second highest military appointment in Myanmar
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The Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services (Burmese: ဒုတိယတပ်မတော်ကာကွယ်ရေးဦးစီးချုပ်) is the second-highest military appointment in the Tatmadaw, the unified armed forces of Myanmar, also known in English as the "Defence Services".[1][2][3] After the unification of Myanmar's Army, Navy, and Air Force in 1955,[4]: 128 the Tatmadaw used the Chief of Staff system, with three branches of the armed forces led by the Vice Chief of Staff (Army), Vice Chief of Staff (Navy), and Vice Chief of Staff (Air).[5] In 1989, this was reorganized into the current system, under which each branch is led by its own Commander-in-Chief.[6][7] Since then, except in the special case of a 26-day period in 2026, the positions of the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services and Commander-in-Chief (Army) have been traditionally combined and only one officer is appointed at a time.[a][8][9]
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| Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services | |
|---|---|
| ဒုတိယတပ်မတော်ကာကွယ်ရေးဦးစီးချုပ် (Burmese) | |
Flag of the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services | |
since 30 March 2026 | |
| Office of the Commander-in-Chief (Army) | |
| Member of | National Defence and Security Council |
| Reports to | Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services |
| Residence | Naypyidaw |
| Appointer | Military Appointments General |
| Precursor | Deputy Inspector General, Burma Army |
| Formation | 1947 (as DGOC); 1989 (as DC-in-CDS,C-in-C(Army)) |
| First holder | Smith Dun (as DGOC); Than Shwe (as DC-in-CDS,C-in-C(Army)) |
| Unofficial names | ဒုကာချုပ်၊ ဒုချုပ် |
List of DGOC/ VCS/ DC-in-CDS
(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)
| No. | Portrait | Name (born–died) |
Term of office | Notes | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | |||||
| Deputy General Officer Commanding, Burma Army | |||||||
| * |  |
Colonel Smith Dun |
1 May 1947 | 4 January 1948 | 248 days | His appointment as DGOC is recorded in the military's official history but he is not acknowledged as the first person in the official list of VCS/DC-in-CDS,C-in-C(Army). Later became the first military chief of independent Burma as GOC | [10] |
| * | Brigadier General Saw Kyar Doe |
14 April 1948 | 30 July 1949 | 1 year and 107 days | Ethnic Karen Officer, then named "Deputy General Officer Commanding". Saw Kyar Doe moved to the post of Chief of Operation but forced to retire due to civil war with Karen Listed as the first VCS/C-in-CDS,C-in-C(Army) in the official list even though he had retired before 1955 | [8] | |
| * | .jpg) |
Major General Ne Win |
1 August 1948 | 1 February 1949 | 184 days | Listed in the official list of VCS/DC-in-CDS,C-in-C(Army) even though his term of office was before 1955. Promoted to GOC in 1949; subsequently became the first Chief of Staff of the unified Tatmadaw, the Defence Services, in 1955 | [8] |
| Vice Chief of Staff, Defence Services (Army) | 28 September 1955 | 10 May 1989 | 33 years, 224 days | The three Vice Chiefs of Staff from Army, Navy and Air branches enjoyed equal status as deputies to the Chief of Staff, Defence Services | [4] | ||
| Vice Chief of Staff, Defence Services (Navy) | |||||||
| Vice Chief of Staff, Defence Services (Air) | |||||||
| Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services | |||||||
| 1 |  |
General Than Shwe |
10 May 1989 | 23 April 1992 | 2 years, 349 days | Previously titled Vice Chief of Staff (Army). Later promoted to the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services | [8][6] |
| 2 |  |
Vice-Senior General Maung Aye |
24 April 1992 | 30 March 2011 | 18 years, 340 days | [8] | |
| 3 |  |
Vice-Senior General Soe Win |
30 March 2011 | 30 March 2026 | 15 years, 0 days | transferred the CinC(Army) position to Ye Win Oo on 4 March 2026; remained as DCinCDS after that | [8][11] |
| 4 | General Kyaw Swar Lin |
30 March 2011 | Incumbent | 15 years, 120 days | [8] | ||
Existing positions named C-in-C and CS
- Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services
- Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services, Commander-in-Chief (Army)
- Commander-in-Chief (Navy)
- Commander-in-Chief (Air)
- Chief of the General Staff (Army, Navy and Air)
- Chief of Staff (Army)
- Chief of Staff (Navy)
- Chief of Staff (Air)
Notes
- Official documentations show only one list of "Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services, Commander-in-Chief (Army)" and notably, the 26-day appointment of separate Commander-in-Chief (Army), in 4 – 30 March 2026, is not included in the list.