Major General Michael Traut

Commander, German Space Command German Air Force

Major General Michael Traut is Commander of German Space Command. Born in Tübingen on 18th December 1964, Major General Traut is married and has two daughters.

He joined the Bundeswehr as a conscript in 1983 and received his initial officer training at German Air Force Officer School in Fürstenfeldbruck. He studied computer science at the Bundeswehr University Munich and was assigned to numerous postings, first as system administrator and programmer and later within NATO’s Integrated Air Defence System as aircraft controller. He later obtained all tactical air battle management operational qualifications.

Major General Traut served in numerous senior functions in German Air Force and Joint Support Service Headquarters as well as within German Ministry of Defence. He took command of Operational Air Wing Mazar-e-Sharif/Afghanistan in 2007 and served as Commandant of the German Air Force Officer School between 2016 and 2020. In 2021, he became Director of National Air Operations until 2023, simultaneously taking command of the emerging German Space Command.

Major General Traut is a graduate from Bundeswehr Command and Staff College Hamburg, Joint Services Command and Staff College Bracknell and Royal College of Defence Studies London.