Maritime Sniper Team

The Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines (FPGRM) includes specialised Maritime Sniper Teams (MST).

MST units deploy on Royal Navy vessels. Using large calibre sniper rifles, usually deployed from naval helicopters, the MST can provide overwatch for a variety of RN/FPGRM operations.

Maritime Sniper Teams have proved effective in the war on drugs. In this role, the MST have operated from helicopters based on Royal Navy warships. Using L121A1 .50 calibre rifles fitted with short range red dot EOTEC sights (as apposed to long range scopes), the MST would shoot out the engines of drug running speed boats. One example of this happened in November, 2005 when a Lynx HMA8 helicopter from HMS Cumberland intercepted a suspected drugs runner in international waters off the Nicaraguan coast. When the speedboat failed to stop, several shots, from the MST aboard the Lynx, disabled the smuggler's speedboat. A boarding team, riding in a RIB from Cumberland, then approached and searched the vessel and arrested the crew.

Following the incident when British Sailors/Marines were taken into custody by Iranian forces in a disputed waters between Iraq and Iran in 2007, there have been calls to include MST units on British warships carrying out boarding operations in the region.

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