From its creation up until the mid- 1990s , the Chief of the Defence Staff held the highest ranks in the British armed forces (equivalent to a US "five-star" rank) being an Admiral Of The Fleet , a Field Marshal or Marshal Of The Royal Air Force , depending on the service he was from. However, with the defence cuts, having a such a high rank serving officer was seen as too expensive, and too prestigious for the post- Cold War size of the British Armed Forces. Consequently, since then the Chief of the Defence Staff has held a lower ("four-star") rank as ( Admiral , General or Air Chief Marshal ).
It is traditional for the holder of the post of CDS to be from a different service from his predecessor (this has only been broken once, when General Guthrie succeeded Field Marshal Inge) and also a different service from his deputy, the Vice-Chief Of The Defence Staff (VCDS). The current VCDS is General Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman .
