The Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army (C-LAS) (Dutch: Commandant Landstrijdkrachten) is the executive commander of the Royal Netherlands Army and reports directly to the Commander of the Armed Forces (CDS). The Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army is statutorily a three-star general. The current C-LAS is Air Defense Artillery Lieutenant General Leo Beulen.
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History of the C-LAS
The position of C-LAS was created on 5 September 2005 as part of a thorough reorganization within the Dutch Ministry of Defence in which the staffs (military and civilian) were reduced in size and an entire organizational layer was dropped. Before September 2005 the commanding officer of the Army was the Bevelhebber der Landstrijdkrachten (abbreviated BLS; the term also translates into English as Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army).