“Delta Defence Group” Part One: The Pistol

This article is part of a two-part series about weapons from the “Delta Defence Group”.

This article examines the self-loading pistols produced by the Delta Defence Group, the full size ‘C6’ and the compact ‘C5’. Despite our research efforts it was not possible to find a “Delta Defence Group”, there is a similarly named Turkish import and export defence company, but they do not use the same name nor logo and appear to be a different company. A number of very similar pistols are produced by the Turkish company Sarsilmaz, the ‘B6’ and ‘B6C’, while the Italian company Tanfoglio produce the ‘Force’ and ‘Force Compact’ series, Israeli IMI/IWI pistols the ‘Jericho 941’ and the ‘Jericho 941 Compact’, and the Jordanian JAWS ‘JTP-9’ and the ‘JTP-9C’, but they do not match the “Delta Defence Group” pistols completely. After further research, pistols of the exact design were found, with completely different markings under the model name ‘Cherokee’ by Bul Armory – an Israeli company. The Delta Defence Group pistols correspond with the third generation Cherokee FS and Cherokee Compact. The Cherokee FS and Compact are reported to be assembled by Bul Armory, but it is likely that they do not produce the parts themselves.

One possible manufacturer of the parts could be the Turkish company Sarsilmaz, however, Tanfoglio and an unnamed Israeli company are more likely, because Tanfolgio is known to have produced previously the parts of the Israeli ‘Jericho’ pistol and the unnamed Israeli company, which reportedly only produces the frames, because a trusted Silah Report source visited the factory where the frames are made.

One link between Tanfoglio and the Delta Defence Group (DDG) are the “T” markings on DDG pistol magazines, which are identical to those on Tanfoglio and Bul Armory Cherokee magazines.

There are many possibilities for who assembled or made these pistols, Bul Armory but with DDG markings, Jordanian JAWS with DDG markings or Tanfoglio with DDG markings. Note that the pins of the Bul Armory Cherokee FS and Cherokee Compact and DDG ‘C5’ and ‘C6’ do not match, which may indicate that both Bul Armory and the company that assembled the DDG pistols source their parts mainly from the same manufacturers. It could be that the parts could have been sourced from Tanfoglio and the unnamed Israeli company and assembled in Jordan.

But it is difficult to determine the manufacturer or even the country of origin, as local sellers and sources claimed that DDG weapons were manufactured in different countries such as: Azerbaijan, Turkey, Slovakia, America, Georgia, Egypt, China, Iraq, Israel, Canada, Brazil and Taiwan. Most of the countries listed here likely did not manufacture the weapons.

They are either sold directly or through a broker to Iraq and probably to legal firearm dealers. From there they trafficked onto the Iraqi black market, the legal market of the Kurdistan Regional Government region, into the “Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria” region (SDF controlled areas in northern Syria) and even into the rebel held Idlib province. This is not the first time that firearms are smuggled into Iraq, in April this year an illegal shipment of over a thousand Ukrainian Fort-19 pistols was found. They were shipped in a container marked “Toys”.

The third generation Bul Armory Cherokee FS and Compact and DDG ‘C6’ and ‘C5’ have the same features and are identical except for the pins. The third generation differs from the second generation by having another Picatinny slot, a differently modelled grip and no cuts on the slide.

The second generation differs greatly from the first generation and features a Picatinny rail, a differently shaped grip and a cut in the slide. The second generation is basically an improvement of the old pattern to make it more appealing to the police and military.

The first generation is about the same as the first generation of the Tanfoglio Force, having only minor differences such as a different grip texture, rear sight and front sight, and slide.

The Sarsilmaz B6 and B6C are similar to the first generation Bul Armory Cherokee’s and are basically the same pistol with only slight modifications such as different grip texture, canted slide, different rear sight and front sight and blued barrel.

The Tanfoglio Force series of pistols seems to be the pistol that the others were modelled after, but differ from the other pistols.

The Jericho 941 pistols have a generally similar external appearance, but differ clearly from the other pistols.

The JAWS JTP-9 and JTP-9C have a similar appearance to the second generation Bul Armory Cherokee. They differ only in a different grip texture, three instead of two Picatinny slots and glide cuts.

The first pistol was documented for sale on 15 April, in an gun store in Mosul, the first pistol on the Iraqi black market was for sale on 5 September, the first pistol for sale in the Syrian province of Idlib was on 30 October, and none have been documented for sale in northern Syria, but have been discovered by an Silah Report source on 18 April, and was used by a Kurdish YPG militia fighter at Tal Tamr on 11 November. This gun was seen in the KRG by a Silah Report source. The pistol was also gifted to a Peshmerga officer during his promotion to the rank of second lieutenant for his fight against ISIS. 

Here are the serial numbers we observed:

Type	Location	Serial Number
C6	Syria	D1029XX
C6	Syria	D1028XX
C5	Iraq	D1014XX
C5	Iraq	D1003XX

The use of fake markings, fake names and real names on fake firearms is common, especially in the Middle East, where a name can increase the price of a weapon. For example, in Idlib a Chinese NP-20 surfaced with fake markings including “COLT COMANDER”, these were likely applied by local gunsmiths. In many cases the serial numbers are removed, but it’s unclear at what stage of proliferation this occurs.

Figure 1.24. Chinese NP-20 pistol with fake markings for sale in Idlib, Syria in July 2019. (ARES CONMAT via AnalystMick)Thank you to those who helped me during my research and thank you for the contributions from @CalibreObscura and @ArmoryBazaar.

The next part of this series will be about an M4 pattern rifle with the same markings as the pistol.