''Beredskapstroppen'' (), callsign "Delta", is the

police tactical unit A police tactical unit (PTU) is a specialized police unit trained and equipped to handle situations that are beyond the capabilities of ordinary law enforcement units because of the level of violence (or risk of violence) involved. The tasks of a ...

of the Norwegian Police Service. Its members are trained to perform dangerous operations such as high-risk

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be question ...

s and hostage situations. It is organizationally part of Oslo Police District, but is responsible for the whole country, including oil installations in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. The unit has participated in several incidents including the Torp hostage crisis at Sandefjord Airport, Torp on 29 September 1994, the aftermath of the NOKAS robbery and the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, also called 22 July () or 22/7 in Norway, were two domestic terrorism, domestic terrorist attacks by far-right politics, far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik against the politics of Norway, government, the civil ...

. The members have a wider variety of weapons than the ordinary police force, including

SIG Sauer P226 The SIG Sauer P226 is a full-sized service pistol made by SIG Sauer. This model is available in four chamberings: the 9×19mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, .357 SIG, or .22 Long Rifle. It has the same mechanism of operation as the SIG Sauer P220, but ...

pistols and Diemaco C8 rifles. Members spend half their time training and preparing for missions and the remaining participating in ordinary law enforcement work in Oslo.

History

Operations

According to Delta's web site, they conduct in average almost one armed operation every day. In 2004, for instance, they conducted 422 armed missions and only fired their

weapons A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...

twice. One of Delta's most dramatic missions was the Torp hostage crisis, where an elderly couple and two

police officers A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of ...

were taken hostages by two criminals. In the end of the two-day drama, Delta executed a rescue operation rescuing all of the hostages and killing one hostage taker and arresting the other. In the aftermath of the fatal NOKAS robbery, Delta arrested many suspects involved with the robbery. Since October 2006, Delta has focused their operations against gang crime in the capital of Oslo and arrested many criminals and seized many weapons used by the gangs.

2011 Oslo / Utøya attacks

Delta were first responders at Utøya and subsequently apprehended

Anders Behring Breivik Anders Behring Breivik (; born 13 February 1979), officially named Fjotolf Hansen from 2017 to 2025, and Far Skaldigrimmr Rauskjoldr av Northriki since March 2025, is a Norwegian neo-Nazi terrorist and mass murderer. He carried out the 2011 No ...

, the perpetrator of the

in Oslo and Utøya on 22 July 2011.

Deployment in Special Team Six

Members of the unit have been deployed in Special Team Six (ST6), a multinational

United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Привремена административна мисија Уједињених нација на Косову, Privremena administrativna misija Ujedinjenih na ...

(UNMIK) police tactical unit, many times. One of the unit's most important tasks was to arrest war criminals. According to one of the Delta operators, during a rescue mission, grenades and bullets flew over their heads while ST6 rescued 50-60 persons from furious

Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

. This incident was a rescue of

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

personnel trapped in a building. ST6 was commanded by a Norwegian operator from Delta during this mission and during the period January–July 2004. Beredskapstroppen has had personnel deployed in ST6 ever since its foundation.

Equipment

;Weapons * Heckler & Koch P30

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...

SIG Sauer P320 The SIG Sauer P320 is a modular semi-automatic pistol made by SIG Sauer, Inc., SIG Sauer's American branch. History The P320 chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum was introduced in the North American market on 15 January 2014, followed by the .45 A ...

* Heckler & Koch MP5

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to descri ...

* Diemaco C8

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

* SCAR-H

battle rifle A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge. The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to differentiate automatic rifles chambered for fully powered cartridges from automatic rifles cha ...

SIG-Sauer SSG 3000 The SIG Sauer SSG 3000 (''Scharfschützengewehr 3000'', literally ''Sharpshooter Rifle 3000'') is a bolt-action, magazine (firearm), magazine fed rifle chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO. It was derived in Germany from the Sauer 200/Sauer 202 rifle fam ...

sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long range shooting, long-range rifle. Requirements include high accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment, and optics, for anti-personnel weapon, anti-personnel, anti-materiel rifle, anti-materiel and sur ...

* Barrett MRAD

* HK169

grenade launcher A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially designed, large caliber projectile, often with an explosive, Smoke screen, smoke, or tear gas, gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary gre ...

/ less-lethal weapon * Remington 870 pump-action shotgun for

door breaching Door breaching is a process used by military, police, or emergency services to force open closed or locked doors. A wide range of methods are available depending on the door's opening direction (inward or outward), construction materials, etc., ...

;Vehicles The unit frequently drove unmarked Mercedes Geländewagen, marked and unmarked Chevrolet Suburbans, Unmarked BMW X5s and marked and unmarked Volvo V70s. Delta has recently started utilizing new 2009 Mercedes MLs and armoured

Toyota Landcruiser The , also sometimes spelt as LandCruiser, is a series of four-wheel drive vehicles produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. It is Toyota's longest running series of models. , the sales of the Land Cruiser totalled more than 1 ...

s as a replacement for the older Volvo V70 and Chevrolet Suburban. Delta also has two

Rigid-hulled inflatable boat A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull (watercraft), hull bottom joined to side-forming a ...

s. The type has three

engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

with a total of 675 HP. For air transport Delta mainly make use of military Bell 412 SP from the

Royal Norwegian Air Force The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) () is the air force of Norway. It was established as a separate arm of the Norwegian Armed Forces on 10 November 1944. The RNoAF's peacetime establishment is approximately 2,430 employees (officers, enlisted ...

. In 2020 Delta adopted new unmarked Volvo XC90's for formal protection details. ;Other The operators use a special type of

visor A visor (also spelled vizor) is a surface that protects the eyes, such as shading them from the sun or other bright light or protecting them from objects. Nowadays many visors are transparent, but before strong transparent substances such a ...

on their helmets which can withstand 9mm bullets. The French National Gendarmerie Intervention Group also reportedly use this visor. The unit uses a

gas mask A gas mask is a piece of personal protective equipment used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft ...

with a closed system (

rebreather A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantial unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen is a ...

). They use advanced equipment to determine the type of chemicals they are up against. Their uniforms differ from those normally worn by the men and women of the Norwegian Police Service; instead of the normal black pants and blue shirts they wear black jumpsuits.

References

{{Authority control 1976 establishments in Norway Law enforcement in Norway Police tactical units ATLAS Network