He was killed by the security forces in a shop after seizing the weapon in the airport's southern terminal.
The airport has been shut down after what the authorities said was an extremely serious incident and passengers not allowed to disembark.
Some French media say the man was involved in an earlier shooting in the north of Paris.
A security operation is continuing at the airport with bomb disposal experts involved and a search for any possible accomplices.
Police say the dead man was not carrying any explosives.
No-one else was hurt in the incident.
Orly - located 13km (8 miles) south of Paris - is the capital's second largest airport.
Police have warned people to stay away from the security cordon and people intending to travel to Orly have been advised to make alternative arrangements as all flights in and out of the airport have been suspended.
Scores of passengers have been unable to disembark from aircraft that landed at Orly as the huge security operation takes place.
Officials say the man approached a group of soldiers patrolling the airport and made off with the weapon into a shop.
At that point shots were fired and the man was killed. His motivation is not yet known.
The soldiers were part of Operation Sentinel - involving thousands of soldiers deployed to provide back-up to the police after the Paris attacks of November 2015.
France has presidential elections starting from next month and remains under a state of emergency following earlier attacks.
Witnesses said the airport was evacuated soon after the shooting.
"We were sitting in Hall Three when all of a sudden people started running and telling us to run with them," Ellie Guttetter, 18, from the US said.
"The people running were passengers and flight attendants. It was pretty chaotic and everyone was panicking - it was scary."
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