Weaponry used by Delta Force

Delta Force's unconventional nature also allows its members to carry highly-customized weapons. Like any other military unit, Delta has dedicated mission tasks including snipers and squad machine gunners. The flexibility of Delta means that weaponry is quite varied and often depends on the mission at hand or personal preference of the individual operators. Below is a list of common or highlighted weapons; the list should not in any way be considered complete, and it should also be noted that Delta Force operators often have access to the entire armory of the United States Army.

• A common weapon of choice May Be the M4 carbine often in use with various accessories including the M203 grenade launcher, and other accessories of the SOPMOD kit. The H&K MP5SD may still be available to Delta operators, but has fallen out of use as a CQB (close quarters battle) weapon due to the general acceptance of the superiority of the M4 carbine and the 5.56 mm round's ballistic performance when compared to that of the MP5's 9 mm cartridge. However the MP5SD is inherently much quieter, being integrally suppressed.

• A popular weapon among Delta Force operators, before the advent of the M4 carbine, was the CAR-15 assault carbine. It is similar in dimensions, and retains the power of the 5.56 mm round offered by the M16A2 that was issued to most special forces (such as the 75th Ranger Regiment) between the late 1980s and the early 2000s. Delta's use of the CAR-15, with various accessories, was demonstrated by the Delta sniper Gary Gordon, who used a heavily customized CAR-15 while defending Super 6-4's crash site during the events of the Battle of Mogadishu.

• Delta operators often pick up or use weapons (for example, an AK-47) of the indigenous forces in the Area of Operations (AO). This helps operators blend in with the locals, allows using local ammunition scavenged during the mission, and conceals their country of origin if weapons are lost or captured.

• It has been noted in a popular weapons magazine that "Delta Force gives each member a stipend with which to purchase his own customized M1911 in .45 caliber." Former Delta operator Larry Vickers states on his webpage that the experience which contributed to his line of handbuilt 1911 pistols came from his fifteen years in Delta where "more .45 ACP ammo is shot out of 1911 style pistols than any other place in the world".

• Delta snipers use M14s in urban environments due to their semi-automatic ability, allowing for a follow-up shot much more quickly than with a bolt-action rifle. In Mark Bowden's book, Black Hawk Down, he records that one of the elite Delta Force soldiers, Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart, chooses an M14 rifle because of the stopping power offered by the 7.62 mm NATO (.308 caliber) and reliability. Eric Haney, in fact, notes that Delta snipers frequently use the M14 rather than more specialized sniping rifles. More recent upgrades to the M14, such as the M21 and M25 rifles are commonly in use, and often misidentified as M14s.

In addition, the SR-25 rifle, a 7.62 mm platform that is based on the same semi automatic operating system as the M4 and M16 rifle, is also currently in use in the special operations community. A new weapon being used by the special operations community is the CheyTac Intervention line of rifles. In .408 caliber, the round is smaller than the .50 caliber used by the Barrett equivalents, but it delivers greater kinetic energy at ranges exceeding and produces less recoil.

• Larry Vickers worked with Heckler & Koch to come up with a better weapon than the M4, and then asked his former colleagues to help test the weapon.

The Heckler & Koch HK416 was the first weapon to result from this program, and uses a different type of piston action as a remedy to the inherent fouling issue that the M4 Carbine carries with its direct impingement system. The Heckler & Koch HK417 is a weapon based on the same piston system but designed to shoot the larger 7.62 NATO round for more stopping power, as the lack of stopping power from the 5.56 NATO is another criticism of the M4 from Special Forces troops. The first 500 production HK416 carbines were purchased by Delta Force, in addition to the prototypes already with Delta. Presumably to address the concern over 5.56 mm ammunition, the Mk 262 ammunition might be in use.