The Stage Sniper "Tireur d' Elite "

Officially, a “sniper” does not exist in the French Armed Forces: neither the term nor the function it implies. Aside from specialized anti-terrorist and commando units (including the GIGN which belongs to the Gendarmerie), the French infantry regiments – airborne, motorized or mechanized – are regular infantry troops using standard tactics dating back to the Second World War. The missions and combat roles performed by the regular infantry troops are thus mainly of defense. After all, France, like all other Western European nations, is a country of peace and has no real foreseeable need to mount large-scale assaults or airborne offensives.

Within this doctrine, the French Army maintains two categories of soldiers trained and specialized in precision shooting: the “tireur de precision”, armed with an FRF-2 and the “tireur d'elite” armed with a PGM. Neither of these two categories can be translated as a classic sniper.

The tireur de precision, or TP, acts as a precision marksman within the combat squad. Operating aside the squad or platoon leader and progressing as part of the main unit's effort, his main mission is to provide intelligence based on his observation and, if need be, the neutralization of high-priority enemy personnel at ranges beyond that of the FAMAS assault rifle, ie. in the 300-500m bracket.

The tireur d'elite, or TE, has a PGM rifle weighing in at over 19kg in combat-ready state; too heavy and cumbersome to be ported on foot by a two or three man team. The strategy is that the PGM trinome is motorized on a 4X4 jeep with a 7.62mm machine-gun as its close-in protection. The motorized tireur d'elite has thus more of a close-support role, targeting sensitive optical instruments on enemy tanks and IFVs, lightly skinned APCs and troop transporters and, if necessary, neutralizing enemy personnel at ranges of 1000-1200m. It is for this reason that all of the regiment's PGM rifles belong to the close-support company (CEA) which has its own section that specializes in using the PGM.

The sniper in the classical sense of the word: an autonomous shooter/spotter two man element with a specific mission and operating alone inside enemy-held territory, does not fit into this strategy. The sniper is considered as being too aggressive an element to integrate into standard infantry tactics. This is precisely the reason why the 4 th Company of the 2e REP has for so long specialized in true sniping and why it is so keen to maintain the skills and know-how associated with it.

The formation of the snipers is done during a four week stage, which extends from the TP stage which is a pre-requisite for all sniper candidates. Thus in total, the sniper undergoes two months of training, to give him enough tools and knowledge to carry out his function.

We had the best instructors in precision shooting that the company has – these pushed us to our limits and demanded nothing but absolute dedication on our behalf. Instruction itself consisted of the standard tools-of-the-trade of an autonomous team of soldiers: topography (with and without a GPS), transmission (using a frequency-hopping mode), camouflage and discretion and others. Particular to our company, we also learnt how to call in for and correct mortar fire, as our company has two 81mm mortar pieces as part of its support platoon (which the snipers belong to as well). The level of instruction was carried to, and often exceeded, that normally given to a Chef de Groupe (squad leader), a Sergeant.

These photos show some of the moments from the stage sniper, unique to the 4 th company of the 2e REP.