Largest possible Private Military Company

Canuck Wingnut

Erik Prince tried to get an armed COIN aircraft to support his PMC... presumably had he succeeded that would have expanded to a squadron at some point.

Also, I don't believe the Knights of Malta count as a PMC, given that they claim to be a legitimate government that claims (though it doesn't actually hold) territorial jurisdiction; but at one point just post-WW2 they technically owned large parts of the Italian Air Force, in order to allow NATO to pretend the Italian Air Force remained below the limits set out in the relevant peace treaty.

There aren't a lot of naval PMCs that operate actual warships, but presumably that's primarily because pirates don't rise to a threat level that would justify that kind of investment. Depending on your definitions of carriers it certainly wouldn't be difficult to convert a large freighter to launch and land on helicopters- I believe that around the time of Op Eagle Claw an American oil company proposed converting an oil tanker to serve as a mothership for future rescue attempts.

As far as armored divisions go were back to the same problem as with warships- plenty of PMCs operate armored vehicles today, you just need a contract worth enough money to justify raising forces on a division-level scale.
 

Myth

China would probably have paid a PMC for providing airpower during the 20s and 30s if there had been any available. It paid foreign missions from the Soviet Union and the United States for that service. Ethiopia also had a much smaller mercenary air wing in the 30s against Italy. Some Latin American states in the same period paid foreign adventurers of varying stripes, too, although most of them were for even simpler services like operating machine guns.

In theory, you might be able to scale such operations up if you get some eccentric Howard Hughes-esque figure who wants to rent out a private Flying Tigers unit.
 
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Monk78

What if Russia post soviet era rents out its armed forces ? No questions asked as long as money is paid

just imagine we will have decisive results in all those 3rd world conflicts once a VDV division , regiment of flankers , victor III SSN or a armored regiment of T80s show up
If the party cannot pay the Russians will make an agreement to accept payment in food , raw materials , industrial products etc

what shall we call this company ? Nayemnik ?
Also Russia can sabotage UN peace keeping missions so that it’s mercenaries can participate in these conflicts
 
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GuildedAgeNostalgia

This might be current politics, but with growing instability in large parts of Africa due to terrorism, climate change, and ethnic tension, have Chinese security company recruit Chinese veterans to provide "security" to Chinese corporations across the continent.

This is then used as a pretext for the Chinese government to funnel soldiers into Africa to support "democratically elected" strongmen to fight insurgencies that threaten the status quo in Africa.
 

Blue cat

Monk78 said:
What if Russia post soviet era rents out its armed forces ? No questions asked as long as money is paid

just imagine we will have decisive results in all those 3rd world conflicts once a VDV division , regiment of flankers , victor III SSN or a armored regiment of T80s show up
If the party cannot pay the Russians will make an agreement to accept payment in food , raw materials , industrial products etc

what shall we call this company ? Nayemnik ?
Also Russia can sabotage UN peace keeping missions so that it’s mercenaries can participate in these conflicts
Click to expand...

If they are not overtly Russian forces with the public backing of the Russian Govt I suspect an example will eventually be made of some of them (probably after a number of warnings.) At some point if the sabotaging of UN peace keeping missions and subsequent participation in resulting conflicts gets out of hand IMHO the forces hired on a "no questions asked as long as money is paid" basis get stomped by a force made up of NATO or other well trained and equipped soldiers.

IMHO the use of nuclear submarines in a combat role by a non national actor would likely be seen as very problematic and after a few warnings I would expect something to happen.

In the long run I just don't see NATO and other nations accepting that ex Soviet forces can show up on a " no questions asked so long as money is paid" basis and insert themselves into various conflicts without some re percussions, although I suppose it somewhat depends on what conflicts they chose to involve themselves in.
 

Spamquisition

Perhaps to combat piracy in West Africa some PMCs decide to use converted civilian ships so they can escort cargo vessels? Or indeed, a pirate gang gets organized and wealthy enough to become a more palatable protection racket for traveling cargo ships against the more disorganized independent pirates. Get some foreign specialists and trainers then they can corner the naval PMC market there. Though, I am unsure how maritime law and other nations will react to them.

It won't end up with them having a carrier battlegroup but maybe a small fleet is possible.
 

Anarch King of Dipsodes

Regarding the EIC: it was not a "military company". Its military forces existed to protect its trading operations and enforce its control.

A comparable institution today would be a corporation doing business in a region with lots of violence, and therefore having an "army" of security personnel, including personnel armed and trained to oppose guerrilla armies or weak nation-state forces.
 

Pelranius

Monk78 said:
What if Russia post soviet era rents out its armed forces ? No questions asked as long as money is paid

just imagine we will have decisive results in all those 3rd world conflicts once a VDV division , regiment of flankers , victor III SSN or a armored regiment of T80s show up
If the party cannot pay the Russians will make an agreement to accept payment in food , raw materials , industrial products etc

what shall we call this company ? Nayemnik ?
Also Russia can sabotage UN peace keeping missions so that it’s mercenaries can participate in these conflicts
Click to expand...
Russia already has the Vagner Group running around starting shit.

Of course, everytime the Vagner Group argues with an actual military (America and Turkey come to mind), it doesn't end too well for them.
 

Alternator

A psudo-military strikebreaker's outfit that evolves into an anti-gang security outfit, and from there into private military work in Mexico/Central America? A bit more plausible deniability by the US government when it goes meddling, and then anti-communist contracts to allow them to explode in size.

You could easily get these guys up to the size of the biggest Mexican cartels, and those are packing authentic military equipment.
 

Monk78

In a way the various guerilla movements of third world are kind of like PMCs , with most of their leaders becoming quite wealthy and influential
 

Monk78

Alternator said:
A psudo-military strikebreaker's outfit that evolves into an anti-gang security outfit, and from there into private military work in Mexico/Central America? A bit more plausible deniability by the US government when it goes meddling, and then anti-communist contracts to allow them to explode in size.

You could easily get these guys up to the size of the biggest Mexican cartels, and those are packing authentic military equipment.
Click to expand...
A large right wing latin american outfit funded by US govt and drawing volunteers from all over latin america would be a great way to combat communism [from perspective of US] , the local militaries would not have to stain their hands with a lot of atrocities and there will be a lot less accountability for those responsible.
 
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