Chief of Defence Staff (Arab Union)

The Chief of Defence Staff (Arabic: رئيس أركان الدفاع ra’īs arkān ad-difā‘) is the executive commander of the Union Defence Forces (UDF), the armed forces of the Arab Union. The Chief of Defence Staff chairs the Military Command Council, which also includes the individual chiefs of staff of the three branches of the UDF (the Army, Navy and Air Force) and other senior military officers. The Chief of Defence Staff is appointed by and directly answerable to the Minister of Defence, and is also a member of the Presidential Executive Council.

Despite commanding all three branches of the UDF, the Chief of Defence Staff is formally an officer of either the Army, Navy or Air Force, as all enlisted and commissioned personnel of the UDF are formally part of a specific service branch; the Chief of Defence Staff is typically a former chief of staff of one of the services, whose deputy is promoted to chief of staff of the respective service upon the incumbent chief of staff's promotion to Chief of Defence Staff by the Minister of Defence. As such, the uniform of the Chief of Defence Staff varies depending on the service of which the incumbent Chief of Defence Staff is a serving officer. For example, incumbent Chief of Defence Staff Rostem Suheil is a ranking Air Marshal who formerly served as Air Force Chief of Staff, therefore sports the uniform of senior officers of the Air Force.