9 Largest Private Military Contractors in the World
Ashar Jawad
8 min read
In this article, we look at the 9 largest private military contractors in the world. You can skip our detailed analysis on the history and current trends of the private military industry, and head over directly to the 5 Largest Private Military Contractors In The World.
Private military companies have a controversial but important role to play in global security. These contractors are independent businesses that offer specialized military services related to war, combat operations, intelligence gathering and more, to national governments, substate actors, and international organizations.
A majority of these private companies are led by military veterans and offer several war-related services, consultancies, and other forms of support such as construction, logistics, and training. For example, Academi, formerly Blackwater, was founded by Erik Prince, a former Navy Seal. Many of them are even equipped with fleets of utility and transport aircraft.
After World War II, many western countries privatized arms manufacturing, and this was followed by military services. The use of private military companies further gained prominence with the conclusion of the Cold War in 1990, with the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia downsizing their militaries, which resulted in a large number of soldiers left unemployed. This vacuum was filled by private military companies, who were often contracted by the same countries to do their 'dirty work' without directly involving themselves militarily in conflicts.
According to DW News, the United States spent around $300 billion between 1994 and 2007 on 12 private militias, mainly in Afghanistan and Iraq. On the other hand, the Wagner Group has for the last several years been actively advancing Russian security interests in Syria first, and later Ukraine. Not only do private contractors offer the benefit to countries of not involving themselves directly in the conflict, but also that any casualties faced by these private companies do not evoke the same emotional response and pressures at home as it would if soldiers of a national army were to die in an external war.
However, incidents over the last couple of decades have shown that it is not always beneficial for countries to cede their monopoly over power and coercion to private contractors. The most notable learning of this was the 2023 mutiny by the Wagner Group in Russia, in which thousands of mercenary fighters that were engaged in the conflict in Ukraine rebelled against Putin’s government and decided to march towards Moscow. Moreover, there were also numerous instances of shootings carried out by private military contractors during the Iraq war on both American and Iraqi troops, as well as civilians.
Since the rolling back of American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the role of private military contractors has begun to diminish in the United States, and the industry is witnessing consolidation. Academi, which was one of the most powerful private military contractors in the world about a decade ago, merged with Triple Canopy in 2014 to form Constellis Holdings. Some other companies that are part of the Constellis Holdings include Olive Group, American K-9 Detection Services, and Centerra. Military offerings of the group are now mainly limited to ensuring security of US government sites and installations at home and abroad.
Last year, Centarra was awarded a $1 billion contract by the Department of Energy in exchange for security services at the Savannah River Site for a period of 10 years. On the other hand, Triple Canopy signed a $1.3 billion agreement with the State Department in June 2022 under which the company would provide protective services to the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
DynCorp was another prominent private military contractor that was recently acquired. In 2020, the group announced the news of its acquisition by Amentum, a leading US federal government contractor. DynCorp was among the eight private companies that were chosen by the United States to serve in Iraq while the US troops pulled out. The contractor had a manpower of 10,000 personnel, some of whom were also actively engaged in battles against drug dealers in Peru and rebels in Colombia.
In Russia, Wagner's power and public goodwill appears to have significantly diminished as well after the rebellion of June 2023. However, despite that, the group remains a key international player for several reasons. Firstly, what separates the group from its predecessors and other private military companies is the sheer size of its manpower. It is a full-fledged armed unit, with aerial, ground, and sea combat capabilities. Moreover, it is actively involved in conflicts in Libya, Syria, Sudan, Mali, and Ukraine, and the death of its leader Evgenij Prigo?in in a plane crash after the rebellion, seems to have had no impact on the group's involvement in those conflicts. Lastly, while Wagner has historically enjoyed the backing of the Kremlin, it still operates independently from the Russian armed forces under its own ideology of Russian ultranationalism coupled with the nostalgia of the Soviet Union era.
9 Largest Private Military Contractors in the World
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Methodology
The 9 largest private military contractors in the world are ranked in ascending order of their number of personnel. Data has been sourced from several independent news reports and publications, including the Special Ops Magazine, DW News, and Business Insider, among others.
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Let’s now head over to the list of the largest private military companies in the world.
9 Largest Private Military Contractors In The World:
9. Defion Internacional
Personnel: 1,000
Defion Internacional is a Peruvian private military contractor, with offices in Iraq, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates. The group is known to recruit fighters, security guards, and drivers from across the developing world, especially Latin America. According to a 2012 report in Business Insider, there were about 1,000 Latin American mercenaries in the Middle East, with most of them likely linked to Defion Internacional. The report also stated that Triple Canopy has recruited heavily from Defion Internacional in the past.
The personnel belonging to Defion Internacional hold expertise in performing the role of static guard forces, as well as offering administrative and logistical support to the contractor.
8. Unity Resources Group
Personnel: 1,200
Next on our list is the Unity Resources Group, an Australian-owned private military company that is active in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The group is managed by military veterans from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, and is believed to have a manpower of 1,200 personnel. The private military company is best known for its roles in guarding the Australian embassy in Iraq’s capital Baghdad, assisting with ensuring secure parliamentary elections in Lebanon, as well as evacuating oil companies’ representatives from crisis zones in Bahrain.
However, the Unity Resources Group, like any other private military company, has not been short of controversies, and has been involved in a couple of infamous shooting incidents in Iraq, one of which resulted in the passing of an Australian academic, and another in which two civilian women were killed.
7. Aegis Defence Services
Personnel: 5,000
With a manpower of around 5,000 personnel, British company Aegis Defence Services is one of the largest private military contractors in the world, that primarily works with the United States, the United Nations, and oil companies, according to the Special Ops Magazine. Aegis has experience working on projects in over 60 countries, and besides offering military services, the company also lends expert advice on various aspects of security, counter-terrorism, and government support.
A story on NBC News in 2007 reported that Aegis Defence Services had been accused of indiscriminately opening fire on Iraqi and American troops, and shooting civilians that got within touching distance of their convoys.
6. Triple Canopy
Personnel: 8,000
Triple Canopy is one of the largest private military contractors in the world, with a manpower of about 8,000 personnel. The group was founded in 2003 by veterans of the US special military forces to provide risk management and armed security to governments and corporate clients. In 2014, Triple Canopy merged with Academi to form the Constellis Holdings.
Many of the company's personnel are tasked with providing security to the United States’ diplomatic missions in Haiti and Israel. In 2022, Triple Canopy was awarded a $1.3 billion contract for 10 years to provide protective services to the American embassy in Iraq.
