The National Gendarmerie Intervention Group, commonly abbreviated GIGN (French: Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale), is a special operations unit of the French Armed Forces. It is part of the National Gendarmerie and is trained to perform counter-terrorist and hostage rescue missions in France or anywhere else in the world. The GIGN was formed in 1973. On 1 September 2007, a major reorganization took place. The original GIGN absorbed the Gendarmerie Parachute Squadron (EPIGN) and the thirty gendarmes of the Presidential Security Group (GSPR) to form a "new" expanded GIGN. GIGN (Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale pronunciation (help·info); English: National Gendarmerie Intervention Group) is the elite police tactical unit of the French National Gendarmerie. Its missions include counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, surveillance of national threats, protection of government officials, and targeting organized crime. GIGN was established in 1973 following the Munich massacre. Created initially as a relatively small tactical unit specialized in sensitive hostage situations, it has since grown into a larger and more diversified force of nearly 400 members, with expanded responsibilities. GIGN shares jurisdiction of French territory with the National Police special-response units. GIGN is headquartered in Versailles-Satory near Paris. Although most of its operations take place in France, the unit, as a component of the French Armed Forces, can operate anywhere in the world. Many of its missions are secret, and members are not allowed to be publicly photographed. Since its formation, GIGN has been involved in over 1,800 missions and rescued more than 600 hostages, making it one of the most experienced counter-terrorism units in the world. The unit came into prominence following its successful assault on a hijacked Air France flight at Marseille Marignane airport in December 1994. GIGN was formed in Maisons-Alfort, near Paris, in 1973 in the wake of the Munich massacre and other less well known events in France. Initially named ECRI (Équipe commando régionale d’intervention or Regional Commando Intervention Team), it became operational in March 1974, under the command of then-lieutenant Christian Prouteau and executed its first mission ten days later. Another unit, named GIGN, was created simultaneously within the Gendarmerie parachute squadron in Mont-de-Marsan in southwest France but the two units were merged under Prouteau's command in 1976 and adopted the GIGN designation. GIGNs initial complement was 15, later increased to 32 in 1976, 78 by 1986, and 120 by 2005. GIGN moved to Versailles-Satory in 1982. In 1984, it became the police tactical unit of a larger organisation called GSIGN (Groupement de sécurité et d'intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale), together with EPIGN (Escadron parachutiste d'intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale), the Gendarmerie Parachute Squadron, GSPR (Groupe de sécurité de la présidence de la République), the Presidential Security group and GISA (Groupe d'instruction et de sécurité des activités), a specialized training center. On 1 September 2007, a major reorganization took place. In effect, GSIGN was renamed GIGN and its former components (the original GIGN, EPIGN, GSPR and GISA) became "forces" of the new GIGN which now reached a total complement of 380 operators.

GIGN reports directly to the Director General of the Gendarmerie Nationale (DGGN), i.e., the chief of staff of the Gendarmerie, who in turn reports directly to the Ministry of the Interior. The DGGN or his Deputy for Operations can take charge in a major crisis; however, most of the day-to-day missions are conducted in support of local units of the Departmental Gendarmerie. GIGN is also a member of the European ATLAS Network, an informal association consisting of the special police units of the 27 states of the European Union. Although GIGN, as part of the French military, has been deployed to external combat zones, it is primarily centered in France, engaging in peacetime operations as a special police force. Respect for human life, combined with fire discipline, has always been taught to group members since its inception. Each new member is traditionally issued a six-shot revolver as a reminder of these values.

Known GIGN operations include: 

• Rescue of 30 French pupils from a school bus captured by the Front de Libération de la Côte des Somalis in Loyada, Djibouti in 1976. GIGN snipers and French Foreign Legion troops killed the hostage-takers in an operation that was only partially successful, as two children were killed.
• Planning the rescue of diplomats from the French Embassy in San Salvador in 1979; the hostage-takers surrendered before the assault was conducted.
• Advising Saudi authorities during the Grand Mosque Seizure in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in November and December 1979.
• Arrest of several Corsican terrorists of the National Liberation Front of Corsica at the Fesch Hostel in 1980.
• Arrest of suspected Irish terrorists in the Irish of Vincennes affair, in August 1982.
• Rescue of hostages during the Ouvéa cave hostage taking in Ouvea, New Caledonia in May 1988.
• Protection of the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville.
• Rescue of 229 passengers and crew from Air France Flight 8969 in Marseille in December 1994. Nine GIGN operators were wounded during the operation, but all four hijackers were killed. The mission was broadcast live by news channels, increasing awareness of GIGN's existence.
• Arrest of the mercenary Bob Denard and his group during a coup attempt in 1995 in Comoros (Operation Azalee).
• Operations in Bosnia to arrest persons indicted for war crimes.
• Capture of 6 Somali pirates, and recovery of part of the ransom, after ensuring that Le Ponant luxury yacht hostages were freed off the coast of Puntland, Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, in conjunction with French Commandos Marine in April 2008.
• Deployment of tactical teams in Afghanistan in support of French Gendarmerie POMLT (Police Operational Mentoring Liaison Team) detachments from 2009 to 2011.
• Deployment in Libya during Operation Harmattan in 2011.
• Neutralization of the two terrorists involved in the Paris Charlie Hebdo shooting on 7 January 2015.
• Deployment to the 2015 Bamako hotel attack, although the situation had already been taken care of by local police, with assistance from American and French special forces, by the time the GIGN team arrived.
• Neutralization of the terrorist responsible for the Carcassonne and Trèbes attack in March 2018 (a former EPIGN officer, Arnaud Beltrame, voluntarily swapped places with a hostage and was killed trying to disarm the terrorist). This operation was conducted by an AGIGN unit based in Toulouse under GIGN supervision, while operatives sent from Satory were still underway.
• Several deployments in Ukraine in 2022 to protect various French or International missions during the Russian invasion.

GIGN was selected by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to organise hostage-rescue exercises aboard planes for the special forces of the other member states.

There are now three distinct parts to the unit: 

• Intervention force (the original GIGN) 
• Observation & search force (from the former EPIGN) 
• Security & protection force (from the former EPIGN and gendarmes from the GSPR)

Member of French Gendarmerie SOF (GIGN) during an ops in Afghanistan. credit: ecpad dot fr

**eBay REQUIRES ORDER BE SENT WITH TRACKING, PLEASE SELECT USPS 1ST CLASS SERVICE w/TRACKING**

FREE 30-day No-Question return

ALL US-MADE PATCHES HAVE LIFETIME WARRANTY

We do not compete price with cheap import copies.

Watch out for cheap import copies with cut-throat price; 

We beat cheap copies with Original design, US-Made Quality and customer services.

Once a customer, a LIFETIME of services