The 3 Largest Private Military Companies (PMCs) in the World

Mercenaries are not a new phenomenon. They were available from ancient Rome, Ottoman Empire and to more recent times.

One of the most famous PMCs is the American security firm Blackwater. It was founded in 1997 by former commando Eric Prince, along with the shooting trainer El Clark. A few years later, another company was created, which was essentially its new branch, Blackwater Security Consulting, whose fighters took part in military operations in Afghanistan. However, there is practically no information on its activities during this period.

At the disposal of the company are many training bases not only in the United States, but also in other countries, where more than 40,000 people train annually. Currently Blackwater (Xe Services LLC, Academi as it is recently called) is the largest organization of its kind in the world. The company has a headquarters located in North Carolina.

Source: https://thepavlovictoday.com

The main income of Academi (Blackwater renamed) fighters is derived from participation in various armed conflicts, about 90 percent of the profits the firm receives from contracts with the US government. Statistically, the picture is as follows: if in 2001 the company received about $ 735,000 from the US budget, then in 2005 this amount increased to $25 million, and a year later it reached $ 600 million. Every day, one mercenary from Academi costs the US 

$1200 (for comparison: a soldier of the regular army — only 150–190 dollars).

The company Academi has great opportunities and resources and enjoys the patronage of the US government, so even after the massacres with civilians during armed conflicts, no mercenary was held accountable or even dismissed.

The second largest private security company in the world is the G4S. The number of its employees is over 650,000. It is a multinational firm that provides security services, its headquarters is in the United Kingdom.

Representative offices of the company exist in 125 countries. G4S was founded in 2004 after the merger of the Danish company Group 4 Falck and British Securicor PLC. 

The main activity of the company is focused on the provision of security services, the provision of money security services (transportation of valuables and money), the integration of security services. In addition, the company’s employees ensure the detention of the perpetrators on behalf of the police, provide security services at airports. The company is working on the introduction of security systems, provides logistical services to banks and provides money management, participates in consulting, risk management and security support in areas with limited security infrastructure. In addition, G4S personnel are engaged in ground clearance of munitions, train personnel, and provide a revenue protection service for British railway companies.

Among the clients of the corporation there are both the governments of many sovereign states, corporations, financial institutions and utilities, and airports and seaports, logistics and transport providers and private individuals.

Another American military private company — the so-called “Group R” (Fort Defense Group Corporation, FDG Corp.) — was founded in 1996 by Marines A. Rodriguez. A few years later his partner was Russian officer D. Smirnov. Its headquarters is in Jacksonville. The company has concentrated its main activities in virtually all hot spots in the world — Somalia, the Gulf of Aden, Iraq, Guinea-Bissau, Israel, Palestine, Gaza and Afghanistan. The company is engaged in the provision of services such as the protection of ships and cargo, military logistics, maritime and land transportation, the training of special units and security teams for operations in high-risk areas, military counseling. 

The company worked in the Gulf of Aden, assisting the Government of Somalia, in Guinea-Bissau, its staff assisted in the clearance and disposal of military waste and the organization of the Coast Guard.

PMCs provide operational advantages over regular military forces, such as:

• Being rapidly deployable;
• Lessening public concerns about the utilization of force;
• Counterweight to the local military in states with weak political institutions.

Whether or not these represent real advantages, most analysts hold that PMCs have a variety of operational disadvantages relative to regular military forces:

• motivated by profit instead of duty, their commitment is generally considered to be more limited than that of normal military personnel;
• employees outside the military chain of command;
• contracts cannot cover every possible contingency beforehand

Do they destabilise or stabilise regions of the world? It depends on who pays. It is normally the outsourced arm of the CIA or governments who require outside forces to remain in power! They (PMCs) make mistakes but there is no penalty/(ies) for that – e.g. Blackwater in Iraq. So long as America funds them and uses them, they are above local and international law. That’s where the danger lies.

References:

War for money, leading private military companies or the world, Alex Kemeroff, 16/2/2018

(https://medium.com) 

Private military companies: empowerment of state or privates? Parth Raman/Maria Diandra Opre, 23/8/2021 (https://thedailyguardian.com)