Sniper teams are used in military doctrines of the United States and United Kingdom in sniper warfare, as well as in the police forces. A sniper team consists of two persons, sniper and spotter, also referred to as marksman and observer. Both of them are usually fully qualified as marksmen, but they have different duties. These duties are often rotated for various reasons, for example to reduce eye fatigue of the spotter during observation.

The main duty of the sniper is to take the shot, detailed in the sniper article.

The spotter detects and observes the target and the results of the shot. He also provides the team security, therefore he is usually armed, e.g., with an automatic assault rifle. It is often the case that the sniper rifle is assigned exclusively to a single person, therefore in the case of rotation the spotter carries two weapons. The spotter also carries an additional powerful telescopic sight ("scope") to assist the sniper in setting up the objective and to observe the shot, with the purposes to confirm the kill or to readjust the shot.

Sniper warfare