Australia: Lieutenant General Susan Coyle appointed as the next Chief of Army
Coyle is currently the Chief of Joint Capabilities of the Australian Defence Force.
Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, who has been the Chief of Army in Australia since 2022, is set to retire later this year. A successor has now been named in Susan Coyle, also with the rank of Lieutenant General.
Coyle, who has been the Australian Defence Force’s Chief of Joint Capabilities since 2024, received her officer’s commission during the early 1990s after graduating from the Australian Defence Force Academy and from Duntroon. She later underwent further education at the University of New England, the Australian Command and Staff College, the University of Canberra, the U.S. Army War College and Harvard University.
Included among her early assignments were deployments to East Timor with the United Nations and for Operation Anode. After spending time in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Army, Coyle was deployed for the War in Afghanistan and later for Operation Okra.
In 2017, Coyle was named as Commander of the 6th Brigade and as the Head of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals. Later, she was stationed at Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates as Commander of Joint Task Force 633 and was in charge of Forces Command.
Coyle was named to the Order of Australia in 2022. Her other decorations include the Conspicuous Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal and the United States’ Army Commendation Medal.
Susan Coyle is a native Kyogle, New South Wales near the Queensland border. Her husband Mark, with whom she has three children, currently holds the rank of Colonel in the Army. Her sister Alice is also a veteran of the Australian Army.