Colonel (GS) Hans-Jürgen Knittlmeier is Chief of Staff NATO ISR Force Sigonella, Sicily, is responsible for directing, coordinating and supervising the activities of the Force’s Joint Staff and for providing the direction and guidance required to maintain coherence when managing complex or cross-cutting issues of the Force.
Prior to his current assignment, Colonel (GS) Knittlmeier was Chief of Branch in the Federal Ministry of Defence, Planning Directorate, Capability Development C4/ISR in Bonn, responsible for Space Strategy, C4/ISR Platforms, Luftwaffe and Cyber Domain in Bonn, Germany. At the previous assignment, he was Assistant Chief of Staff at the Headquarters of the Luftwaffe in Berlin, responsible for Future Development of the Luftwaffe. Prior to this assignment, Colonel (GS) Knittlmeier was Head of Division at the Federal Armed Planning Office, Capability Management in Berlin. Prior to this assignment, he was Wing Commander Tactical Reconnaissance Wing 51 “Immelmann” in Jagel. During this command tour, he was appointed Wing Commander of Operations Wing MES in ISAF, Mazar e Sharif.
Colonel (GS) Knittlmeier commissioned in 1988 from the Air Force Academy “Offizierschule der Luftwaffe”. He completed ENJJPT Undergraduate Pilot Training at Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls, TX, qualified for Fighter Bomber Attack, was undergoing tactical combat training on Alpha Jet and TORNADO fighter aircraft and served as a rated Combat Ready Pilot at Fighter Bomber Wing 34 in Memmingen, from where he deployed to different NATO and national Air Combat Training Installations. He has filled a wide variety of challenging positions in national, joint, combined and international staffs on the operational as well as the strategic level. During his Command tours, he served as OpsGrpCdr and WingCdr in ISAF, AFG.
Colonel (GS) Knittlmeier holds the rating of Command Pilot with more than 2,300 flying hours on jet combat aircraft. He holds degrees from the Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Hamburg.
His assigned areas of competence are Operations and Plans & Concepts. His Foreign Language Skills are English and Italian. His awards include the Cross of Honor of the German Armed Forces in Gold.
He is married to Sabine and has two children.