A senior officer is an officer of a more senior grade in military or other uniformed services. In military organisations, the term may refer to any officer above junior officer rank, but usually specifically refers to the middle-ranking group of commissioned officers above junior officer ranks but below flag officer, general officer or air officer.
Sometimes, particularly in the army, this grade is referred to as field-grade officers, field officers or officers of field rank. Historically, a regiment or battalion's field officers made up its command element.
Canada
In the Canadian Armed Forces, the term "senior officer" (
) is used in all three services. It includes the army and air force ranks of major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel, and the naval ranks of lieutenant-commander, commander, and captain.
France
In the French Armed Forces, senior officers are called
officiers supérieurs. They include the army and air force ranks of
commandant, lieutenant-colonel and
colonel, and the
French Navy ranks of
corvette captain,
frigate captain and
capitaine de vaisseau.
Germany
In the German italic=no, officers of the rank of Major,
Oberstleutnant and
Oberst in the
German Army (army) and
Luftwaffe (air force), and
Korvettenkapitän,
Fregattenkapitän and
Kapitän zur See in the
German Navy are traditionally known as
Stabsoffiziere ().
Russia
Shtabofitser (), derived from the German stabsoffizier, was the designation of the following officers of the Russian Imperial Army and Navy until 1917.
|
|
| Nevsky 1st Infantry Regiment | | | | | |
| Ivanogorodsky 99th IR | | | | | |
| | Полковник
Polkovnik | Подполко́вник
Podpolkovnik | Майо́р
Major | Капитан
Kapitan | Штабс-капитан
Stabs-kapitan |
United Kingdom and Commonwealth
The
British Army and
Royal Marines use the terms "officers of field rank" or "field officers" to refer to the ranks of major, lieutenant colonel, colonel and brigadier. The term "senior officer" is used for the ranks of lieutenant commander, commander, captain and commodore in the
Royal Navy, and
squadron leader,
wing commander and
group captain in the Royal Air Force. An RAF
air commodore, however, is considered to be an
air officer.
A number of other armed forces in the Commonwealth, including Australia and New Zealand, also follow this pattern.
United States
The officer group in United States Armed Forces has two different names depending on the branch. In the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force the rank group is called
field grade and consists of major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel. In the Navy, and Coast Guard, the rank group is called
mid-grade and consists of lieutenant commander, commander, and captain.
