Brigadier General Ralf Peter Hammerstein

Brigadier General Ralf Peter Hammerstein joined the Bundeswehr in 1992 as an Officer Cadet, assigned to 1 Battery, Rocket Artillery Battalion in Montabaur. Following artillery officer training (1992-95), he studied Geodesy at the Bundeswehr University in Munich. Having graduated with a diploma in Engineering in 1998, he served in 2 Battery, 71 Target Acquisition and Armoured Artillery Battalion for the following five years, first as Platoon Leader and then as Battery Commander.

Before moving on to study at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, in 2009, earning a Master’s degree in Security Studies the following year, the years between 2003 and 2009 saw him fill several appointments. Apart from positions in the Bundeswehr`s Logistics Office (2003-5) as well as the Army Office (2007-9), he also attended the National General/Admiral Staff Officer Course at the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College in Hamburg (2005-7).

From 2010 to 2012, he worked for the German Military Representative at both the NATO and EU Military Committees in Brussels, followed by an appointment as Assistant Chief of Division at the Federal Ministry of Defence in Bonn. He then commanded 295 Artillery Battalion between 2014 and 2016 and, after a brief spell at the Federal Ministry of Defence`s Security and Defence Policy Division (with involvement in the panel preparing the latest version of the Bundeswehr`s White Paper), became Deputy Military Assistant to the Federal Minister of Defence in Berlin (2016-18).

After his return to the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College, this time serving as Course Director (2018-20), he was appointed Head of Office of the Director-General for Security and Defence Policy at the Federal Ministry of Defence (2020-22). Up until 2023, he served in Veitshöchheim as 10 Armoured Division`s Chief of Staff and, having directed the NATO Advisory and Liaison Team in Kosovo in 2023/24, took over command of 41 Armoured Infantry Brigade “Vorpommern”. Since 2026, he has been Commander of the German Army Officer School.

Brigadier General Hammerstein was born on 9 June 1973. He is married and has two children.