Finland won the European Best Sniper Team Competition!

Considered also as the European military sniping championship, the European Best Sniper Team Competition is a demanding competition intended for snipers of the Alliance and its partner nations that aims to test and develop military snipers’ professional competence. Participated by 45 military sniper teams from 25 nations, the competition was won by Finland, the most recent NATO member nation.

After altogether seven days of competing on Saturday, the three-personnel-strong sniper team from Finland that consisted of service personnel from the Jaeger Brigade and Pori Brigade achieved their victory. 

– Our expectations were high but it was a complete surprise that we won this major and demanding competition for the European military sniping championship. As a team we cooperated well although we did not practice together before the competition. We achieved this thanks to the Finnish Defence Forces’ cohesive and coherent sniper training, the leader of Finland’s military sniper team says.

The European Best Sniper Team Competition tests, inter alia, skills such as sniping without any preparation, firing at moving targets, using an alternate firearm in a rapid situation framework, firing at targets from a helicopter, and seizing a fighting position. The situations are either offensive or defensive in nature, and require target location capability characteristic of military sniping as well as identifying the priority order of importance. The Finnish sniper team consisting of the sniper, spotter and flanker says that this competition developed their competence a great deal.

– The training range area was vast and enabled versatile firing. The standardised tactics, techniques and procedures were quite identical between nations but we Finns did things in a somewhat clear-cut and simple manner which then paid off in rapid situations. The most difficult challenges included sniping at 1000m distances in daylight and at night, firing from a helicopter, and from an inflatable boat. The least challenging bit involved building contacts among the participating nations as everybody was very interested in Finnish sniping competence. All in all, the team spirit among snipers was excellent.

While at the competition, the Finns used firearms provided by the Finnish Defence Forces. In their daily lives, the three service personnel serve in the field of sniper instruction and development which goes to say that the future of Finnish sniping rests in good hands. 

– This competition was an excellent one also in terms of learning, and familiarisation with NATO nations’ sniper community was done in a family-like atmosphere. This competition allowed us to learn a lot that can be utilised in sniping instruction back at home, the winning team points out.