GIGN

National Gendarmerie Intervention Group
National Gendarmerie Intervention Group
Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale
	Official insignia (2021)
Active	1973–present
Country	France
Agency	National Gendarmerie
Type	Police tactical unit
Role	Counter-terrorism; Hostage rescue; Protection of VIPs and important sites;
Operations jurisdiction	National; International;
Headquarters	Satory, Yvelines, France; 48°47′6.59″N 2°06′25.80″E / 48.7851639°N 2.1071667°E
Motto	S'engager pour la vie; (transl. "Commitment for life")
Abbreviation	GIGN
Structure
Operators	c. 1,000 (400 in Satory)
Commanders
Current; commander	Général de Division Ghislain Réty
Notable; commanders	Christian Prouteau; Denis Favier;
Notables
Significant operation(s)	See list: Loyada hostage crisis (1976) ; Grand Mosque seizure (1979) ; Ouvéa hostage crisis (1988) ; Air France Flight 8969 hijacking (1994) ; Île-de-France attacks (2015) ;
Awards	Croix de la Valeur Militaire

The GIGN (French: Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale pronunciation (help·info); transl. "National Gendarmerie Intervention Group") is the police tactical unit of the French National Gendarmerie. They deal with counterterrorism, hostage rescue, and surveillance of national threats, protecting government officials, protecting important sites, and targeting organized crime.

Notes

↑ S'engager in French can mean to commit (to do something) but also to enlist (in the army)

↑ Gend'info magazine (Official Gendarmerie information magazine in French). GIGN's 40th anniversary issue. December 2014.
↑ New organization for GIGN with full integration of Regional Branches - L'Essor de la Gendarmerie nationale: Nouvelle organisation pour le GIGN avec le rattachement intégral des antennes https://lessor.org/vie-des-personnels/nouvelle-organisation-pour-le-gign-avec-le-rattachement-des-antennes-gign
↑ Official Journal of the French Republic November 2022 https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000046591812