ARCAM Private Army

The ARCAM Private Army (APA) is a fictional organization in the Spriggan manga. It is the armed military wing of the ARCAM Corporation. The force consists of armed troopers (mostly ex-soldiers, ex-contractors and possibly civilians) from various nationalities. They are lightly armed with various small arms from semi-automatic pistols to heavy machine guns and rocket launchers. The unit also equips its soldiers with various load bearing vests and military/police gear such as ballistic vests, ballistic helmets with protective face shields etc. The APA has various armoured personnel carriers (APC) in service with them, such as the French-made VAB, wheeled APC used in Turkey.

Mandate
The unit has various mission objectives while under the ARCAM Corporation, which consist of the following:


 * Protection of ARCAM employees and officials.
 * Security duties on ARCAM establishments and excavation sites.
 * Covert assistance to Spriggan operatives.
 * Recovery of ARCAM establishments/excavation sites/other ARCAM-related facilities from enemy forces.
 * Escort captured prisoners to secured ARCAM facilities.

ARCAM Defense Unit (ADU)
Its main responsibility is to secure all known ARCAM facilities around the globe from any attacks by mercenary groups or by national armies.

ARCAM Special Private Army (ASPA)
The primary strike force of the ARCAM Corporation, its main job is to recapture all ARCAM facilities held by enemy forces.

Spriggans
Please see Spriggans

Known Field Operations
The ARCAM Private Army had participated in a number of field operations, including:

Securing ARCAM's Turkish facility
ADU forces fielded to ward off any attacks against Turkish research facility.

Location: Mount Ararat, Turkey

Results: Failure, number of ADU troopers were killed by members of the Machiner's Platoon and its heavily armed paramilitary soldiers. Yu Ominae and Jean Jacquemonde went on to defeat the Machiner's Platoon.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Defense Unit, Spriggans

Raiding British Army base
Objective was to destroy the Berserker, in assistance with Yu Ominae.

Location: Britain

Results: Failure, all deployed ASPA soldiers were killed by British SAS commandos. Yu Ominae went on to destroy the Berserker alone.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Special Private Army

Securing possible Eternal Life Nectar
ASPA forces were inserted into the Forest of No Return in India in order to locate a so-called nectar of eternal life.

Location: India

Results: Failure, all ASPA troopers turned into cannibal zombies.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Special Private Army

Guarding Suzuko Kawahara
Yu and Oboro, working undercover the psudonym, Mirage, investigates a Neo-Nazi faction in Egypt. They were also assigned to secure Suzuko Kawahara's life as well.

Location: Egypt

Results: Success, Suzuko Kawahara secured and Crystall Skull retrieved.

Task assigned to: Spriggans

Protecting ARCAM's Japanese office
After receiving threats of an imminent attack, Yamamoto ordered available APA forces to fight off COSMOS soldiers.

Location: Japan

Results: Success, COSMOS infiltration/invasion warded off by joint forces of the ASPA and possibly ADU with Spriggan agents, including Yu Ominae, Jean Jacquemonde and Oboro.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Defense Unit, ARCAM Special Private Army, Spriggans

Protecting Kate
Yu and Oboro were assigned by Yamamoto to secure Kate from Maugier Henri Balez assassins.

Locations: Italy and Iraq

Results: Success, Kate's life was spared, though wounded by automatic gunfire.

Task assigned to: Spriggans

Recapturing ARCAM's facility from YAMA virus
ADU tactical teams were called in after a facility in the US had isolated itself from the outside world.

Location: United States

Results: Success, YAMA Virus wiped off out when it disappeared from mainframe. Several ASPA troopers killed. Jimmy Max was severely wounded, but survived.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Special Private Army

Capture Holy Grail
Yu Ominae and Tea Flatte were inserted in Britain to recapture the Holy Grail.

Location: Britain

Results: Success, Holy Grail recaptured from Neo-Nazis with help from Yoshino Somei. Several ASPA were injured.

Task assigned to: ARCAM Special Private Army, Spriggans

Destroying traces of Ambrosia
Yu and Oboro were deployed to Thailand to destroy traces of the Ambrosia plant that was being used as a potential elixir.

Location: Thailand

Results: Success, all traces of Ambrosia were destroyed with the assistance of Yoshino Somei and Percup Ramdi.

Problems
Even if ARCAM funds the unit with a generous amount of weapons and equipment, the group tends to be outmatched in terms of arms and tactics used by various paramilitary and special forces units, such as the incident in Britain when ADU troopers were ambushed and killed by British SAS commandos as they were about to rendezvous with Yu Ominae as backup support in fighting against the Berserker. The ADU came unprepared once again when American-led COSMOS soldiers launched a commando raid on ARCAM's Japanese headquarters just after the US Armored Corps had raided the facility in order to kidnap Dr. Rie Yamabishi, which resulted in failure.

The ADU had its major loss of its troopers when the Machiner's Platoon, lead by Fatman, Little Boy and Colonel MacDougal, massacred hundred of ADU soldiers on ARCAM's research facility on Mount Ararat in Turkey. At one point, Colonel MacDougal called them the ARCAM Defense Forces, though it is not being referred to as such.

Trivia

 * In the manga, the ARCAM Defense Unit was portrayed to be a ragtag unit of disorganized soldiers, often, with various firearms and equipment as shown in the Noah's Ark story when groups of several ADU troopers fired on Colonel MacDougal's Psi-Shield with various weapons including MP-5s, G3A3s, CAR-15s, AK-47s and AK-74 rifles.


 * In the OVA, the ARCAM Defense Unit was heavily trained, similarly to real-life military units, and well-equipped. Their primary weapon was the Belgian-made FN FAL and its other variants and they were issued with vests and light blue jumpsuits.


 * The ASPA was shown to be well organized, from their gear and weapons. Their vests and radio equipment are similar to what the LAPD SWAT uses (without LASH headset). The only difference is that their headgear consists of ASPA marked ballcaps and touques.

Key Personnel

 * Jimmy Max

Only known field operative of the ARCAM Defense Unit. Believed to be an American national.