Major General Max Arthur Lund Thorsø Nielsen is the Chief of Air Staff in Defence Command Denmark. He joined the Royal Danish Air Force in 1983, graduated from officers training in 1988 with the rank of First Lieutenant and was assigned to the Control and Reporting Group, 602 Squadron, at Skrydstrup Airbase. In the years between then and now, Major General Nielsen has been assigned to: CAOC 1 Finderup, Tactical Air Command Denmark, the Danish Ministry of Defence and the Royal Danish Air Force Officers Academy. He has also served as the Deputy Danish Military Representative to NATO and Senior Military Assistant to the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee. In 2005 he did a tour as the Military Assistant to the Deputy Commander with the NATO Training Mission in Iraq. Furthermore he has attended both Air Command and Staff College in the US and NATO Defence College in Rome, Italy. He was promoted to Major General and appointed Chief of Air Staff – Defence Command Denmark in 2014. In November 2017 he will be appointed as Vice Chief of Defence, and promoted to Lieutenant General.