Militech: the American Arms Giant Behind the NUSA in Cyberpunk

Militech is an American megacorporation that makes weapons, armoured vehicles and drones and rents out its own private army. It is the second giant of the Cyberpunk setting after Arasaka, and the two have been at each other's throats for half a century. By 2077 Militech is so tangled up with the New United States government that a former Militech CEO sits in the White House. (Cyberpunk 2077; Cyberpunk 2020)

Where Militech came from#

Militech started as Armatech-Luccessi International, a small arms company founded in 1996 by the Italian weapons designer Antonio Luccessi. Its rifle lost the 1998 US infantry weapon trials to a cheaper rival, but one of the generals overseeing them, the Marine Donald Lundee, rated it so highly that he resigned and became the company's chief executive. (Corporate Report 2020 Volume 2)

Lundee pitched Militech as the lean alternative to bloated old defence firms, and the company took the Militech name in 2002. When the rival rifle failed American troops in the Central American wars, Militech won the replacement contract, then the sidearm contract, then contracts for heavy weapons, vehicles and aircraft. By the 2010s it was the largest defence supplier in the United States. (Corporate Report 2020 Volume 2)

Cyberpunk 2020 treats Militech as a household name: its guns, armour and vehicles fill the equipment chapters, and its private soldiers turn up wherever a client can pay. Lundee's open hatred of Arasaka worried his own board, because everyone could see where it might lead. (Cyberpunk 2020; Corporate Report 2020 Volume 2)

The Fourth Corporate War#

The war began as someone else's fight. In 2021 two ocean corporations, CINO and OTEC, went to war and hired muscle: one took Arasaka, the other took Militech. When the original dispute was settled in 2022, Arasaka and Militech kept fighting. (Cyberpunk RED)

The war spread across the world until governments started seizing both companies' assets. It ended on 20 August 2023 when a nuclear bomb destroyed Arasaka Tower in Night City. In the tabletop history the bomb came with a Militech-backed strike team led by Morgan Blackhand. Cyberpunk 2077 tells it differently: Johnny Silverhand arms the bomb himself, then is captured and Soulkilled. The Fourth Corporate War and Arasaka Tower 2023 pages cover it in depth. (Cyberpunk RED; Cyberpunk 2077)

President Elizabeth Kress, herself a former Militech executive, blamed the blast on Arasaka. She then nationalised Militech and used its forces to hold her shaky government together. Lundee hated being put under Washington's control, but the company kept rebuilding behind the scenes. (Cyberpunk RED)

Militech and the New United States#

By the 2070s the line between Militech and the government is blurry. Rosalind Myers, a former Marine, ran Militech for almost ten years before winning the presidency of the New United States in 2065. Militech's board members sit in the defence ministry, and the government provides most of the company's contracts. (Cyberpunk 2077; The World of Cyberpunk 2077)

That partnership produced the Unification War of 2069 to 2070, Myers' attempt to force the Free States back into the union with Militech hardware. It nearly worked. Federal troops reached Night City, but Arasaka parked a supercarrier in the bay and Myers called off the attack. (The World of Cyberpunk 2077; Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

One Militech unit refused the order. Colonel Kurt Hansen's men kept the corner of Pacifica they had taken and turned it into Dogtown, with his old unit reborn as Barghest. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

Militech in Cyberpunk 2077#

Militech's first big appearance in the game is The Pickup. The Flathead bot V needs for the heist was stolen from Militech and is sitting with the Maelstrom gang. Meredith Stout, a Militech corporate agent, wants it back and wants the mole who leaked it, so she hands V a credchip to pay with. V can play along with her, warn Maelstrom or fight their way out. (Cyberpunk 2077)

Elsewhere Militech is the background threat. It runs bases in the Badlands, sells most of the city's police and military hardware, and after Saburo Arasaka dies, Arasaka accuses Militech and the New United States of murder while Myers threatens to answer any attack in full. (Cyberpunk 2077)

Militech in Phantom Liberty#

Phantom Liberty takes Militech into the spy world. Myers' spaceplane is shot down over Dogtown, and V works with the presidential FIA agents Songbird and Solomon Reed to get her out. The expansion's secrets involve a Blackwall AI found in an abandoned Militech bunker, and some of the deadliest enemies V faces are Militech war machines turned against their makers. The Phantom Liberty story page has the full plot. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

Militech in Edgerunners#

In the anime the fixer Faraday starts out working for Militech, paying David Martinez's crew to steal from Arasaka. He later betrays his employer and defects to Arasaka. (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners)

Near the end, Faraday's trap pits David, in a prototype Arasaka cyberskeleton, against a whole Militech force, which he wipes out before heading for Arasaka Tower. The Edgerunners explained page covers the series. (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners)