Private military companies (PMC) in the US are commercial organisations with highly qualified specialists offering military services.

The main activities of PMCs consist of assisting foreign defence departments in developing conceptual documents and providing advice on reforming the armed forces; conducting reconnaissance operations; protecting diplomatic and other representative offices, commercial organisations, strategic and critical US facilities overseas, ensuring the safe operation of their personnel; training employees of law enforcement agencies of foreign states; creating paramilitary formations, detachments of saboteurs and militants, as well as coordinating their actions; clearing minefields, disposing of unexploded ordnance; as well as transport and technical support for the military operations of the armed forces of foreign states.

Following the combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, former Yugoslavia, and Syria, US PMCs started providing new services, such as protecting airports, oil fields, pipelines and power supply systems; escorting international organisations’ humanitarian convoys; training personnel of the Iraqi and Saudi armies; providing translation services for Eastern languages; controlling prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan; as well as fire protection, logistic support of troops; air reconnaissance; protection of ships from pirates, etc.

The United States does not have a unified law on PMCs. However, their activities are indirectly regulated by the Arms Export Control Act, under which the State Department licenses these companies and monitors the implementation of contracts concluded with them.

At the same time, the international legal status, and therefore the mechanism to regulate the activities of the US PMCs, have not been clearly defined yet. The International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, which came into effect in 2001 (the United States has not signed it), does not include these companies and their employees. The existing regulatory framework in this area (the Montreux Document and the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Companies) is not legally binding and is purely advisory in nature.

Washington has the right to use PMCs in circumvention of national legislative restrictions, for example, on the number of military personnel sent abroad. At the same time, American mercenaries are not required to report on the scale of their activities, the amount of funding and items of expenditure. In addition, companies can go out of business suddenly, making it difficult for law enforcement to find out where their personnel are staying if they have broken the law.

The principle of extraterritoriality applies to PMCs. Employees of such “security companies” can be prosecuted in US jurisdiction. However, in practice, the US justice is extremely rarely interested in all sorts of “misconduct” by its compatriots. If US citizens do end up in the dock, then they later find themselves pardoned (for example, Trump's resonant amnesty of four ex-Blackwater employees who had been sentenced to between 30 years and life imprisonment for the execution of 17 people in Iraq).

As for paying compensation in the event of the death or disability of “soldiers of fortune,” the general rules of insurance in force in the United States apply to them. At the same time, special tariffs are applied taking into account the increased risks to the lives of such employees.

It is noteworthy that at the peak of its activity, the compromised Blackwater employed up to 150,000 people around the world. In addition to several training bases, the company had more than 20 helicopters, hundreds of different vehicles, including military ones, a variety of weapons and special equipment. Its turnover reached billions. The salary of an ordinary employee was from $400 to $600 a day, and operatives received $1,000 daily.

As a rule, the Pentagon, special services and the State Department act as customers of PMC services. The Department of Defense publishes information about concluded contracts (their content is not disclosed) if their value exceeds $6.5 million. Deals worth more than $50 million are subject to the approval of Congress. The government does not advertise information regarding the volumes and directions of contracted services with PMCs.

US PMCs are often led by high-ranking retirees from the Pentagon, the CIA and the State Department. The personnel “backbone,” as a rule, consists of former servicemen and special force officers (mostly with combat experience), and graduates of military academies. The staff is also actively replenished by foreign mercenaries.

Personnel is trained in the training centres of the Ministry of Defense. For training events, facilities in San Diego (California), Mount Carroll (Illinois), and Moyoke (North Carolina) are used.

The US administration prefers to keep hush-hush and not to advertise the fact that private contractors are involved in the combat operations in Ukraine. Nevertheless, it is known that at least four major agencies are providing support to the Ukrainian Armed Forces: Academi, DynCorp International, Cubic Corporation and Forward Observations Group.

Academi, formerly known as Blackwater, is part of Constellis Group. It specialises in land operations and has its own helicopter fleet and a wide range of heavy weaponry as well as other military equipment. According to the German press, some 400 Academi personnel were present in Ukraine until 2022. The company was seen during combat operations near Izyum/Kupyansk. It is possible that it is taking part in the Ukrainian Armed Forces training.

DynCorp International was bought by Amentum in 2021. It provides physical security services for diplomatic missions and US military facilities abroad, as well as their employees. Since 2010, it has been training employees of foreign intelligence services in actions behind enemy lines and sabotage, as well as providing sniper training and training in using explosives and sabotage. In Ukraine, the following services can be in demand: general consulting, reconnaissance and improving combat skills. Number of personnel: some 10,000.

Cubic Corporation is one of the global leaders in the development and deployment of protection systems for state facilities (in over 50 countries). It provides assistance in data collecting and analysis and uses satellites and drones for reconnoitring and reconnaissance. A representative office in Ukraine opened before the special military operation. In 2015, it provided training under the contract with the US land forces. Number of personnel: about 10,000.

Forward Observations Group provides no official information about its activities; its website sells special gear. According to the company’s employees, the PMC is engaged in the delivery of military equipment and medicines to Ukraine and attracts Western funding (no specifics given). The media say the company’s leadership has close contacts with Azov militants and that the company took part in the training of the National Corps ultra-right Ukrainian organisation in the Sumy Region. The agency has allegedly assisted the radicals in coordinating the delivery of vessels with toxic chemicals to the DPR for potential sabotage in heavily populated areas.

Other lesser known PMCs involved in Ukraine are:

Sons of Liberty International presents itself as a non-profit organisation that offers free services to vulnerable groups of people to protect them from terrorists. The company’s portfolio lists the improvement of the counter-terrorist potential of foreign armed forces (the Philippines, 2018) and mine clearing (Iraq, 2014). The company does not conceal the fact that its employees have been present in Ukraine since March 2022 doing consulting, training and procuring for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The training includes artillery and sniper shooting, training of officers and military medics, and preparing for close combat. At least 1,000 Ukrainian personnel have taken part in the training.

According to the company’s 2022 report, it trained a rapid operational response unit, 47th Assault Brigade, 68th Jager Brigade, the Ukrainian National Guard, homeland defence units, special forces units, as well as demining groups of the Emergencies Service in the Kherson Region.

Mozart Group was founded in March 2022 by retired US Marine colonels Andrew Milburn and Andrew Bain specifically to take part in the conflict in Ukraine (registered in Wyoming as a charitable organisation). The company was engaged in various kinds of personnel training: frontline, nighttime; training of recruits, officers and civil defence forces; sniper and missile training; mine clearance, and civil evacuation. It has been seen during fighting near Artyomovsk.

On January 31, 2023, Andrew Milburn said that the company had ceased its operations in Ukraine after exhausting its funds and experiencing organisational issues. However, the company’s employees continue to stay in the post-Soviet republic under another logo. According to the media, the new agency is named Sonata.

Trident Support is a semi-military structure, founded in February 2023 by a group of retired officers led by Alexander Vindman, former Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council.

According to Politico, the company recruits experts in weapons and military equipment repair (preferably with military experience in Iraq and Afghanistan). The company’s first representatives were supposed to come to Ukraine in March to train the Armed Forces in the repair of weapons and military equipment in the frontline zone. The end goal is to create the Ukraine Weapons Systems Sustainment Centre in the country for maintenance, repair and supply of US- and European-produced spare parts for military equipment.

The use of private military companies in Ukraine has obvious advantages for the Pentagon: it provides for prompt deployment abroad without having to obtain the permission of the President and Congress, relieving the authorities of responsibility for carrying out “questionable” special forces operations, as well as removing the obligation to meet social and other liabilities towards the personnel.

At the same time, it cannot be claimed that Washington banks solely on private experts in the military field because each case of the death of a US citizen causes a big stir. In addition, American experts know that the bases of foreign mercenaries are targets for Russian strikes (they remember well the destruction of the Yavorov training field and other facilities).

According to indirect data, the total number of mercenaries fighting on the side of the Kiev regime is some 3,000, with at least 300 of them being employees of American PMCs.

Under these circumstances, the US prefers to count on the “soldiers of fortune” from Poland and other countries. This tactic allows Washington to implement its course on hurting Russia by proxy while not losing its own military personnel, and at the same time, the American party believes it helps them to dodge accusations of direct involvement in the conflict.