Royal Navy and Royal Marines Marksmen Win UK Armed Forces Top Shooting Prize with KS1 Rifle

A combined team of expert marksmen from the Royal Marines and Royal Navy has won the UK Armed Forces' premier shooting prize for only the fourth time in 117 years, the Royal Navy has announced.

Competition Overview

The Senior Service shooters triumphed at the InterServices Operational Shooting Contest, held on the range at Hythe in Kent, finishing ahead of their Army and Royal Air Force counterparts. The nine-strong team comprised Royal Marines from 30 Commando and the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines at Lympstone, under the command of Captain Petty Officer Chris McIntyre.

New Rifle Technology

The team used the new KS1 rifle, which the Royal Navy stated showed marked improvements over the SA80 A2 — the UK military's standard-issue weapon. The RN and RM shooters had earlier proven themselves at Bisley during the Royal Navy Operational Shooting Contest, hosted at the National Shooting Centre in Surrey. There, thirty competitors worked through 22 live-firing serials over a fortnight, involving shooting:

• Standing, prone, sitting, and kneeling positions
• While stationary or running
• With pistol and rifle
• At ranges from 500 metres down to just ten

Military Training Focus

The Royal Navy stresses that the event is a military training exercise rather than a sporting competition, using contest conditions to drive participants toward the highest possible standards. The focus is on developing instinctive combat marksmanship: firing a better shot, faster and under pressure, so that delivering a well-aimed shot calmly becomes second nature — a skill the service describes as still vital in an age of drones and missiles.

King's Medal Winner

This year's winner of the King's Medal for Champion Shot of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines — the United Kingdom's highest award for military marksmanship — was Sergeant 'Robbo' Robinson from Yorkshire. In keeping with military tradition, he was carried around in a sedan chair. He received a provisional presentation from the Royal Navy's Commander Operations, Major General Rich Cantrill, on behalf of the Fleet Commander, before receiving the medal itself from King Charles, who also decorated the top shots in the Army and RAF. It was Robinson's second attempt at the prize, having placed seventh on his first attempt in 2023.

Additional Awards

• A further nine shooters earned the Service Marksman badge, which they will wear on parade uniforms for the remainder of their careers.
• In the Senior Officer's Pistol Competition, which drew ten firers, Commodore Matt Flegg from Navy Headquarters in Portsmouth won the trophy by a single point.

The KS1 Rifle

The KS1 has been entering British service as part of a wider small arms replacement effort, selected to succeed elements of the ageing SA80 family that has equipped UK forces since the 1980s. Its appearance in the hands of the Royal Navy's top shooters marks one of the more visible outings for the weapon since its introduction.