Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz joined the Bundeswehr in July 1985 and completed his jet pilot training at Sheppard Air Force Base in 1989 and weapon system training in 1990.

He spent the following eight years as a fighter pilot and Operations Staff Officer with the 71 Fighter Wing ‘Richthofen’. Between 2000 and 2003, was assigned to 73 Fighter Wing ‘Steinhoff’ at Laage as Commander, Flying Group. During his assignment as Commander to Fighter Bomber Wing 31 ‘Boelcke’ he spent eight months on the ISAF mission as Air Wing Commander and Base Commander of Camp Marmal in Afghanistan. As a command pilot, he flew over 2,500 hours in the F4, TORNADO, MIG29 and EUROFIGHTER and participated in more than 50 combat missions. In June 2018, he was promoted to Lieutenant General and simultaneously took office as Chief of the German Air Force.