The Spanish Army achieves the first two places in a NATO sniper contest

@DefAviation ES 6·05·2023 · 21:37 0

Last week, NATO's eFP Battle Group Latvia hosted the Atlantic Alliance's Apex Predator sniper contest.

The Spanish Army achieves 3 of the first 6 places in the NATO Iron Spear 2023
The images of Spanish military shooters in the home of the United States Special Forces

This contest has brought together precision shooter teams from NATO countries deployed in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, with the participation of 16 military teams belonging to the armies of Germany, Canada, Spain, France, Italy , Latvia and the United Kingdom. As announced last Wednesday by the NATO eFP Battle Group Latvia, the contest was intended to contest each team's ability "to engage targets, identify targets, and execute sniper missions".

During the contest, live ammunition was used in stalking scenarios in which select shooters had to use camouflage and concealment techniques. In last Wednesday's scenario, participants "had to tactically recce firing positions in order to observe and report on the activities on the ground. This very challenging portion of the competition relied on snipers utilizing ground navigation, positive identification of targets and employing highly effective camouflage and concealment tactics while on the move", according to the eFP Battle Group Latvia.

Last Saturday the winners of the contest were announced: two teams from the Spanish Army took first and second place, while a team from the Canadian Army came in third place. You can see here the images of the delivery of the trophies.

You can see below some images of this contest that have been published by NATO's eFP Battle Group Latvia.

A sniper the Spanish Army, equipped with a camouflage ghillie suit and an Accuracy AW308 sniper rifle in 7.62 × 51 mm NATO caliber.

One of the participants in the contest. He is very well camouflaged and it is difficult to identify which army he belongs to, but I think he is a Spanish shooter with an Accuracy AW308 rifle.

A shooter looking through the telescopic sight of his Heckler & Koch G-36. I can't identify which army he belongs to, but this rifle is the one used by observers who accompany select shooters in the Army of Earth, so possibly a Spanish soldier.

A French Army sniper with a 12.7 mm PGM Hecate II heavy anti-materiel rifle. It weighs almost 14 kilograms.

A Spanish sniper with an Accuracy AW308 rifle on his shoulder saluting a Canadian soldier.

A Latvian Army sniper and observer. The weapon is a Barrett M-107A1 heavy anti-materiel rifle in 12.7mm caliber.

A Spanish shooter with an Accuracy AW308 on his shoulder. Behind us we see two other Spanish soldiers, one of them armed with a Barrett M-95 heavy anti-materiel rifle.

A Spanish sniper in a ghillie suit. These camouflage suits are made by the snipers themselves and their purpose is to distort the shape of the human body and confuse it with the environment. The shooter's vest is in the popular Multicam camouflage.

A sniper of the Spanish Army taking aim with a Barrett M-95 heavy anti-material rifle.

A Spanish team made up of a sniper and an observer. The shooter carries an Accuracy AW308 sniper rifle. The observer has a Leupold Mark 4 12-40×60 mm telescope. The work of the latter is very important to provide the shooter with the necessary distances and corrections for the shot.

A Spanish shooter observing through binoculars. The patch he wears on his arm is that of the Spanish eFP XII contingent, made up mainly of personnel from the Brigade "Guadarrama" XII.

The powerful shot from the Barret M-95 heavy rifle of a sniper of the Spanish Army.

On the left, one of the Spanish teams that won this competition. They have a Barret M-95 heavy rifle with them. On the right we see a British Army team with an Accuracy International L-115 sniper rifle fitted with a suppressor.