Oberst i. G. Thomas Zimmermann

Immediately after graduating from high school, Colonel (GS) Thomas Zimmermann joined the Air Force as an officer candidate in July 1987. Following basic training and an officer training course, he completed his degree in computer science at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich in April 1992.

The subsequent years were marked by leadership and specialized assignments as a platoon leader and operations officer, with a focus on the planning, development, deployment, and operation of Air Force IT systems both in Germany and abroad.

After completing the national General Staff training at the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College, he held further leadership and specialized positions in the IT field in 2001 as commander of a mobile CIS company and as head of division A6 of the 3rd Air Force Division.

In 2005, he transferred to the Federal Ministry of Defence. He initially served as a staff officer and secretary of the Integrated Working Group on Command Capability Analysis in FüS VI 3. This was followed in 2006 by a three-year assignment as a staff officer on the planning staff of the Federal Minister of Defence, focusing on armaments/IT, modernization, Bundeswehr planning, and controlling.

After three years as commander of CIS Battalion 382, he returned in 2012 to the Federal Ministry of Defence, joining the Office of the Chief of Defence, where he focused on planning, armaments, and the budget.

Following a temporary assignment at the Bundeswehr Planning Office as branch head for multinational force planning, he assumed positions at Air Force Command beginning in February 2015. Initially, he served as branch head CIS in the Air Force,

and beginning in October 2018, as sub division head C4ISR and A6 of the Air Force.

Starting in August 2021, Colonel (GS) Zimmermann served as a branch head at the Federal Ministry of Defence. His work focuses on strategic requirements for C4ISR capabilities – specifically, the development of the Bundeswehr’s operational

architecture for command and control, as well as the management of the national Operational Coordination Working Group for Federated Mission Networking.

Since August 2025, Colonel (GS) Zimmermann has served as Deputy director Planning/Digitization Directorate/sub division head objective development at the Cyber and Information Domain Command. Together with his sub division, he is responsible for shaping the future through strategic visioning and thus for the further development of the cyber and information domain forces in particular, as well as all aspects related to cyber and information technology within the Bundeswehr.

His operational experience is based on three ISAF deployments in 2003, 2010, and 2011. All of these deployments were characterized by the technical aspects of setting up and operating German IT systems.

In his personal life, his interests include geocaching, kayaking/water hiking, and programming—he is actively involved in the development team for the open-source app “GC Wizard.”