Lieutenant Colonel Thorsten Tanski, Dipl.-Ing., joined the German Federal Armed Forces in 1992. He is a ground-based air defence officer and served as tactical control officer, tactical director, S3, squadron commander, and deputy SAM group commander. He was assigned to NATO as Missile Defence and AirC2 expert and deployed to HQ ISAF as planner for synchronization of civil-military operations. Currently, he is serving as the Section Head for Operations and Exercises at the Competence Centre for Surface Based Air and Missile Defence. The author holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of the German Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg. He further graduated from US Air Force Command and Staff College as well as the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies.