PMC meaning in Military and Defence ?
Answer: What is Private Military Company mean?
A private military company (PMC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their operationally deployed personnel as "security contractors" or "private military contractors".
The services and expertise offered by PMCs are typically similar to those of governmental security, military or police forces, most often on a smaller scale. While PMCs often provide services to train or supplement official armed forces in service of governments, they can also be employed by private companies to provide bodyguards for key staff or protection of company premises, especially in hostile territories. However, contractors who use armed force in a war zone can be considered unlawful combatants, in reference to a concept outlined in the Geneva Conventions and explicitly specified by the 2006 American Military Commissions Act. There has been controversy over whether PMCs in active combat zones should be considered mercenaries.
The services of private contractors are used around the world. P. W. Singer, author of Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, says "In geographic terms, it operates in over 50 countries. It’s operated in every single continent but Antarctica." Singer states that in the 1990s there used to be 50 military personnel for every 1 contractor, and now the ratio is 10 to 1. He also points out that these contractors have a number of duties depending on whom they are hired by. In developing countries that have natural resources, such as oil refineries in Iraq, they are hired to guard the area. They are also hired to guard companies that contract services and reconstruction efforts such as General Electric. Apart from securing companies, they secure officials and government affiliates. Private military companies carry out many missions and jobs. Some examples include close protection for the Afghan president Hamid Karzai and piloting reconnaissance airplanes and helicopters as a part of Plan Colombia. According to a study from 2003 the PMC industry was worth over $100 billion a year at that time.
According to a 2008 study by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, private contractors make up 29% of the workforce in the United States Intelligence Community and cost the equivalent of 49% of their personnel budgets.
reference
Comments(0)
Ever curious about what that abbreviation stands for? fullforms has got them all listed out for you to explore. Simply,Choose a subject/topic and get started on a self-paced learning journey in a world of fullforms.