Rainer Simon takes over Bavaria’s Bundeswehr command
Friday 9th October 2026 on 17:15 in
Bavaria
Brigadier General Rainer Simon has taken command of the Bundeswehr’s State Command in Bavaria, becoming the military’s senior representative in the state, BR reported. The command serves as a link between the armed forces and civilian authorities.
Simon succeeds Brigadier General Thomas Hambach, who retired after seven years in the post. Two Eurofighter jets flew low over Schleißheim Palace during the handover ceremony, as a farewell to Hambach.
The state command coordinates military support during disasters, such as the flooding in June 2024, and prepares for national defence and collective defence. At the ceremony, Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder said civilian authorities needed direct points of contact in the military.
Bavaria hosts around 30,000 Bundeswehr personnel across its seven administrative districts, along with numerous units and offices. Among the military schools in the state are the Mountain and Winter Warfare School in Mittenwald, the Air Force Officer School in Roth and the Pioneer School in Ingolstadt. Munich is also home to one of the Bundeswehr’s two universities.
The armed forces have undergone extensive changes since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Units based in Bavaria have been reorganised for national and collective defence. The changes include the 10th Panzer Division, headquartered in Veitshöchheim, which commands numerous units in the state. Hambach told BR24 that the changed security situation had led the Bundeswehr to train more intensively, including in public spaces to practise procedures and cooperation with civilian authorities.
Hambach also called a shooting incident near Erding “extremely regrettable”. In October 2025, police shot at soldiers during an evening exercise in a public space, injuring one soldier. According to statements by Bavaria’s interior minister, the officers had believed there might be a terrorist threat. Hambach said one lesson from the incident was the need for “even more intensive communication”.
Simon most recently served in the Bundeswehr’s Cyber and Information Domain Command in Bonn. He has previously been stationed in Füssen, Murnau, Regensburg and Pöcking.