Spanish soldiers in a United States Army snipers competition

Once again, the United States Army has hosted its European Best Sniper Team Competition in Grafenwoehr, Germany.

The images of Spanish military shooters in the home of the United States Special Forces
A spectacular video of Spanish soldiers training as precision shooters

This competition is held annually and is organized by the U.S. 7th Army Training Command. This year's competition featured 35 teams from 22 allied countries, including Spain. Each participating team consists of two soldiers.

The 7th Army Training Command announced the winning teams yesterday. A team from Norway was the winner, with a team from Latvia in second place and a team from Greece in third.

The United States Army has released these photos of the Spanish team. The information provided does not indicate which unit the Spanish soldiers on this team belonged to, so I have blurred their faces in the photos in case they were from a special operations unit. Here we see a Spanish soldier in the exercise known as Deadly Snake Lane, a close-range shooting exercise. He is armed with a Heckler & Koch G36CE, the short-barreled version of the assault rifle used by the Spanish Armed Forces.

One of the Spanish shooters during this competition. The Spanish soldiers wore Spanish M09 woodland pixelated camouflage uniforms, with plate carriers and other equipment in Multicam camouflage. This is a configuration used by snipers in various units of the Spanish Army, such as the Legion.

An enlargement of the previous photo, showing the precision rifle of this Spanish soldier. It is an Accuracy International AXMC 338, chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum (8.6 × 70 mm or 8.58 × 70 mm). In Spain, these rifles are used by the Army, the Marines, and the Air Force, both in special operations units and other units. In this case, the rifle is equipped with a Schmidt & Bender Mk-II telescopic sight (we saw one like this two years ago at an exhibition by the BRILAT in Pontevedra).

The Spanish team during a part of the competition that required the use of gas masks. The soldiers were not wearing any identification indicating their unit. Clicking on the photos will enlarge them for a better view of the details.

An enlargement of the previous photo, showing the weapon carried by the Spanish soldiers in this part of the competition. These are M-4 carbines, chambered in 5.56 x 45 mm NATO. Other teams also used this weapon, likely provided by the US Army, in this part of the exercise.

Another image from this part of the competition shows the Spanish soldiers emerging from a cloud of yellow smoke. They are leaving a trench. The photo was taken on November 19.

+ UPDATED 25.11.2025 17:30h. Mystery solved: the Spanish soldiers who participated in this competition belong to the Parachute Brigade 'Almogávares' VI (BRIPAC) of the Spanish Army.

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Photos: U.S. Army.