Chief of Staff of the Spanish Navy

Admiral General Antonio Piñeiro Sánchez was born in Mugardos (A Coruña) in 1960. He joined the Spanish Navy in 1979 and graduated as Lieutenant Junior Grade in 1984. His subsequent promotions were: Lieutenant in 1987, Lieutenant-Commander in 1996, Commander in 2003, Captain in 2011, Rear Admiral in October 2015, Vice Admiral in September 2018, Admiral in October 2021 and Admiral General in April 2023.

His assignments at sea include deployments in the Persian Gulf (Operation ‘Desert Storm’), in the Mediterranean Sea (‘Active Endeavor’), the South Pacific, and several commissions in different NATO standing naval forces.

He has been Commanding Officer of the patrol boat ‘Laya’, offshore tug ‘Mahón’, F-100 frigate ‘Álvaro de Bazán’ and LHD ‘Juan Carlos I’. He was also Executive Officer of the F-100 (AEGIS equipped) frigate ‘Almirante Juan de Borbón’.

Ashore, Admiral General Piñeiro served in the Spanish Navy Staff (Communications Section); the Armed Forces’ High School and the Naval Education Directorate, where he was Chief of the Coordination and Control Section. He was also Chief of the Intelligence Section of the Operations Division of the Spanish Navy Staff.

Admiral General Piñeiro is a specialist in Communications (1989), Naval Warfare (1999) and is a ‘NATO Defense College Graduate’ (2006).

From October 2015 to September 2018 he was Deputy Chief of the Operations Command at the Spanish Defense Staff. From September 2018 to October 2021 he was Personnel Director of the Spanish Navy.

On October 19, 2021 he was appointed Chief of Personnel of the Spanish Navy.

On April 25, 2023 he was promoted to Admiral General and appointed Chief of Staff of the Spanish Navy.

Admiral General Piñeiro is married to Begoña Filgueira and has two daughters and one son.