Baudouin COPPIETERS de GIBSON, Msc Eng
Flotilla Admiral
Director General
Biography
Baudouin Coppieters de Gibson was born on 15 January 1970. After graduating in Latin and Greek from the Athénée Robert Catteau, he entered the Royal Military Academy (RMA) in the Polytechnic division. He obtained his degree in civil engineering, with a specialisation in telecommunications, in 1994. He was then trained as a naval officer at the Naval Application School and participated in the application campaign aboard the French helicopter carrier Jeanne d’Arc.
He received his first posting as an armaments and operations officer within the fleet aboard the minehunters Primula and Crocus in 1996 and 1997. After his air defence studies with a specialisation in communication at the binational operational school in Den Helder, he joined the frigate Wandelaar and participated in the deployment of Fairwind 2000 in Asia.
Promoted to lieutenant in September 2000, he completed his postgraduate studies in information systems engineering at the École Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées in Paris and obtained his Master of Science in militarymaterial engineering in 2002.
After another operational period on board the frigate Westdiep, in 2003, he joined the General Staff of the directorate General of Material Resources in Brussels as Material Manager in charge of various projects. He also followed the Candidate Higher Officer Course at the Defence College.
At the beginning of 2008, he joined the Primula as executive officer and became commanding officer in July of the same year, until the beginning of 2010. Under his command, the Primula participated in national and international missions and operations.
In 2010, Lieutenant-Commander Coppieters rejoined the Directorate General of Material Resources as Head of the “Mine Counter Measures” sub-section. In this capacity, he coordinated the implementation of the BENESAM agreements on the material aspects of mine hunting, monitored ongoing projects and ensured the follow-up and coordination of the Navy’s research and development studies with NATO and the European Defence Agency.
In June 2014, he became executive officer on board the frigate Leopold 1 and participated in Operation Atalanta in 2014 and Maritime Capability Building in the Gulf of Guinea in 2015.
At the end of 2015, Commander Coppieters started the replacement project of the naval mine countermeasures capability. In accordance with the Strategic Vision of June 2016 and the Belgian-Dutch agreements, he coordinated and organised the renewal programme of this capability until the technical-operational and logistical assessment. This culminated on 15 March 2019 in the decision of the Council of Ministers to award the contracts to the Belgian Naval & Robotics consortium for building and supporting 12 (Belgian and Dutch) mine countermeasures vessels equipped with air, surface and submarine drones.
On 15 May 2019, Commander s.g. Coppieters became commanding officer of the frigate Louise-Marie, with among other missions as the training in different specialties and operational and tactical qualifications for embarked NH90.
From November 2020 to July 2024, Captain (N) Coppieters was responsible for the management of existing naval systems and naval capability renewal programmes within the Directorate General of Material Resources.
In July 2024, Flotilla Admiral Coppieters de Gibson was appointed Director General of the Royal Higher Institute for Defence.
He is married and has four children.