The U.S. Marines were recently in Sweden training for amphibious landings and assaults.

The exercise Archipelago Endeavor 2018 was just finished, and was a bilateral exercise with units from the United States Marine Corps’ Marine Rotational Force-Europe and Sweden’s 1:st Marine Regiment.

Exercise Archipelago Endeavor included the skills of 170 Marines from Sweden’s 2nd Marine Battalion and 75 of the U.S. Marine Rotational Force Europe, in the greater Stockholm Archipelago from August 19 through September 8.

In the top picture, note the Trident patch on the sniper’s right shoulder.

The description for the main picture reads as below. But I think most of our readers can spot that the Swedish Sniper isn’t using an M40 sniper rifle.

The rifle is a L96A1 manufactured by Accuracy International. The Swedish version is called L96A1 AW, or just AI AW, where AW stands for Arctic Warfare.

In the Swedish Armed forces it is called PSG-90 (Prickskyttegevär 90) i.e. Sniper Rifle adopted in 1990.

Some may laugh today as many nations have sniper systems using much larger and more competent calibers and optics, but bear in mind that the Swedish Sniper teams have performed really well in Europe’s Best Sniper competitions, with a win this year and a second place in 2016.

If you missed it TFB recently did a series of articles with some really great pictures with Snipers, spotters and their gear.

Swedish Marine of 1st Marine Regiment engages the enemy with the M40 sniper rifle from the Combat Boat 90 during Exercise Archipelago Endeavor near the the island of Uto, Harsfjarden, Sweden, Sept. 6th, 2018. Exercise Archipelago Endeavor is an integrated field training exercise that increases operational capability and enhances strategic cooperation between the U.S. Marines and Swedish forces.

Below: The PSG-90 in the Swedish Archipelago.

Here’s a view through the scope. The mount is from Spuhr in Sweden. Nice reticle in my opinion.

All the still photos above are from U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Devin J. Andrews.

By coincidence I actually got myself a ride in one of these boats this weekend (the green one). The pictures is taken from one of them. This boat is like a rally car on the sea, and I’m not surprised at the Russian’s attempts to copy them.

Below: Picture from inside the cabin. Photos by author.

You can find a video here for more information (by SrA Deven Schultz) :

Some quotes:

“Seeing our Swedish and U.S. Marines here is really exciting and highlights the interoperability and partnership we’ll see on a much broader scale in October,” said Admiral James Foggo, Allied Joint Force Command Naples commander. “I’m thrilled to see Sweden’s incredibly professional military in action once again, and look forward to seeing them soon in Norway.”

The Swedes welcome the opportunity to host their American partners. “The best part of the training is to train together with another nation,” said Swedish Marine Gunnery Sergeant Alexander Edstrom. “Especially the American Marines — I’ve worked with them before and really enjoyed doing so.”

You can see some more pictures of the Combat Boat 90 at Amfibiebataljonen.