After multiple sources previously told the Guardian that Erik Prince – Maga ally and founder of the now defunct mercenary company Blackwater – was looking to work with Ukraine’s invaluable drone sector, recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents confirm he now is.
Swarmer, which bills itself as a battle-tested Ukrainian startup specializing in autonomous drone software, filed for an initial public offering and has recruited Prince to help sell the company as non-executive chair.
“Swarmer is a software-first defense technology company focused on collaborative autonomy and intelligent swarming, originating from the cauldron of modern combat in Ukraine,” said Prince in a letter to prospective stockholders in the filing, released earlier this month.
“Since April 2024, Swarmer’s platform has been deployed in Ukraine with more than 100,000 real-world missions in active combat environments, informing the software and machine-learning models that feed into it.”
Defense industry hawks have eyed the battlefield intelligence the Ukrainian military has accrued in over four years of combat with Russia. The war has caused close to 2m casualties, but global military elites, like Prince, are also seeing glimpses of what a future war between world powers might look like and what products the US or its geopolitical rival China will need to buy.
In 2023, Prince was linked to a proposed deal to deploy over 2,000 mercenaries from Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina to North Kivu to secure mining areas and counter the M23 rebel advance. This plan, reportedly brokered by the UAE, did not materialize, and no formal agreement was reached. Similarly, earlier discussions about deploying thousands of contractors to eastern Congo also failed to culminate in a contract. These unfulfilled proposals highlight Prince’s long-standing interest in the DRC’s mineral and security landscape, though they also underscore the challenges of operating in conflict zones like North Kivu, where M23 rebels have consolidated control.
Current Focus: Katanga, Not Kisangani
Prince’s current operations are concentrated in the southern Katanga province, far from the conflict-ridden eastern regions controlled by M23 rebels. The Katanga region, rich in copper and cobalt, is a strategic priority for the DRC government, which seeks to recover lost revenue and strengthen its economic position amid broader U.S.-DRC talks on a minerals-for-security deal. There is no verified evidence that Prince has deployed military troops or advisers in Kisangani, a city approximately 250 miles from M23’s westernmost advance in Walikale. Reports indicate that M23 rebels have not yet reached Kisangani, and Prince’s activities remain geographically and operationally distinct from this region.
A Hong Kong-listed security firm founded by Erik Prince has signed a preliminary deal with authorities in China to build a training centre in Xinjiang
FSG, which has a Hong Kong headquarters, has built up a wealth of contracts both inside China and for Chinese companies operating overseas, particularly in Africa.
A Hong Kong-listed security firm founded by Erik Prince has signed a preliminary deal with authorities in China to build a training centre in Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims have experienced a huge security crackdown.
Frontier Services Group, which specialises in providing security and logistics for businesses operating in risky regions, said it had signed a deal to run a training base in the city of Kashgar, according to a statement posted on its Chinese website.
The firm was founded by Erik Prince, a former US Navy Seal and the brother of the US education secretary, Betsy DeVos.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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