New Chief of General Staff: How the Favorite Fell Out of Favor

For weeks, Austria’s military circles debated whether Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner would choose Bruno Hofbauer, the long-standing favorite, or Harald Vodosek, the army’s armaments director. On Thursday evening, Tanner settled the question: Vodosek will become the new chief of general staff.

The lieutenant general will take over on Oct. 1 from General Rudolf Striedinger, who is retiring. Hofbauer, currently the deputy chief of general staff, had been widely regarded as the clear choice until recent months. Since the war in Ukraine, he has designed the army’s “Build-Up Plan 2032+,” which depends on defense funding gradually reaching 2% of gross domestic product by 2032.

That target is part of the coalition agreement between the ÖVP, SPÖ and Neos, and Chancellor Christian Stocker has repeatedly reaffirmed it this year. But the 2026/27 defense report, published in June, said Austria was moving farther away from the goal because projected increases in 2027 and 2028 would remain relatively small.

The report estimated that the army would be short 12.6 billion euros between 2027 and 2031 if it is to carry out the modernization plan. It warned that planned military purchases would have to be reduced and that “the planned achievement of the Republic of Austria’s full defense capability is being delayed.” The findings received broad media attention, reportedly irritating the ministry’s leadership because it had presented the army’s budget negotiations as highly successful.

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the planned achievement of the Republic of Austria’s full defense capability is being delayed