Three-star rank

An officer of three-star rank is a very senior commander in many of the armed services holding a rank described by the NATO code of OF-8. The term is also used by some armed forces which are not NATO members. Typically, three-star officers hold the rank of vice admiral, lieutenant general, or in the case of those air forces with a separate rank structure, air marshal.

Australian three-star ranks

Official rank insignia for Australian 'three-star' officers do not use stars in the same fashion as the United States (the RAN does incorporate stars into the hardboard rank insignia for flag-rank officers but this is in conjunction with other devices). Unofficial star rank insignia (such as that worn by Lieutenant General Leahy in the accompanying image) are sometimes worn when serving with (or visiting) other military organisations in order to facilitate equivalent rank recognition.