How long has blackwater been around

Xe was bought by a group of investors who built a new company, Academi, and then in merged with another firm to form Constellis Holdings. They still do business as Academi. Today, the North Carolina training center operates as United States Training Center, or USTC, and carries out tactics and weapons training for military, government, and law enforcement. They also offer courses in tactical driving, hand to hand combat, and precision rifle marksmanship.

Academi also offers a lot of other services, like maritime training , canine training for explosive and drug detection. After the departure of Erik Prince from his former company, Prince stayed active in private military interests around the world. He was hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and moved to Abu Dhabi in On a separate front, he oversaw recruitment for private military companies, such as Executive Outcomes which is a former South African private military firm that gained fame when they were hired by several African governments during the s to defeat violent rebellions in addition to protecting oil and diamond reserves.

This program was funded by several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates and was backed by the United States. He commissioned the company to modify Thrush G crop-dusters with surveillance equipment, machine guns, armor, and other weapons, including custom pylons that were capable of mounting either NATO or Russian ballistics.

Frontier Services Group owns two of the modified Thrush Gs, but since executives learned the craft had been weaponized by Prince, the company has declined to sell or use the aircraft to avoid violating U.

Erik Prince was brought back into the limelight in when he wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal and suggested that the Trump administration privatize the war in Afghanistan.

I had worked with a U. I speak Arabic Iraqi Dialect and English. You must be logged in to post a comment. Government Contracts During the war in Iraq, Blackwater was one of several private security companies use to guard officials, security guards, and military installations, train the Iraqi army and police forces, and provide other support for armed forces.

Expansion Another training facility was acquired in fall of in Mount Carroll, Illinois, just west of Chicago. Comments 2 Chagona. How to join Log in to Reply. It boasted a state of the art 2,ha 6, acre training facility in North Carolina, including the largest shooting range in America and a lake for naval training, as well as top personnel who had come from the CIA and military backgrounds and maintained close contacts with federal agencies.

Accounts differ on the origin of Blackwater's name. It is usually said to stem from the swampy bogs around the company's base in North Carolina, but at least one book says it was named after the Seal code for a "black op". The firm's first big break came in when it was awarded contracts, often without competition, to guard key US officials and embassies in Afghanistan and Iraq — leaving it well positioned for overnight growth with the invasion of Iraq in The enormous profits that flowed into the company's coffers were quickly matched by mounting controversy and legal headaches.

Blackwater founder Erik Prince arrives for a closed meeting in November with members of the House Intelligence Committee in Washington. The Blackwater founder asks, is it time to try something new?

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