Mexican government and security forces Weapons and Military Equipment

The side's federal core is split between defense institutions and a civilian public-security ministry. SEDENA's public mission covers organizing, administering, and preparing the Mexican Army and Air Force for national defense and internal-security duties. SEMAR's public mission covers maritime power, maritime interests, rule of law in Mexican maritime zones, and naval responsibilities. SSPC frames its mission around peace, order, prevention, and crime-fighting.

The National Guard is central to the current profile because the constitutional framework changed after its 2019 creation. The September 30, 2024 constitutional decree identifies the National Guard as a permanent public-security force integrated by military personnel with police training and dependent on the national defense branch for execution of the national public-security strategy. The same decree leaves the public-security branch responsible for formulating the national security strategy, programs, policies, and actions.

That split explains the profile's broad label. In a single operation or security campaign, public records may identify Army, Air Force, National Guard, Navy, SSPC, prosecutors, state police, or municipal police. The canonical side groups those state-aligned forces only for conflict-side resolution and catalog browsing.

CFR dates the current conflict period to 2006, when the Calderon government launched a military-force-centered campaign against criminal organizations. Later administrations adjusted strategy, created or expanded public-security institutions, and emphasized coordination, intelligence, prevention, and public safety, but the state side has remained defined by repeated deployments against cartel violence.

The threat environment is not limited to drug trafficking. CFR and ICRC material describe criminal organizations fighting each other and the state over illicit economies, territory, and coercive control, with violence against security forces and civilians. The side profile therefore treats Mexican government and security forces as an internal-security actor facing organized armed criminal groups rather than as an expeditionary military side.

The 2015 Jalisco helicopter shootdown illustrates why the catalog conflict record includes military and police operations, not only ordinary law-enforcement incidents. Milenio's reconstruction identified an RPG-27 strike on the tail rotor of a Mexican Air Force EC725 helicopter during an operation attributed to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, making the state side a direct target of heavy cartel firepower.

The National Guard sits at the center of Mexico's security-policy tension. It is a public-security force, but the 2024 constitutional reform places it under the defense branch and treats Army, Air Force, Navy, and National Guard personnel as parts of the permanent armed-force framework for several constitutional purposes.

The presidency's published presentation of the current National Security Strategy emphasizes four pillars: attention to causes, consolidation of the National Guard, intelligence and investigation, and coordination with state governments. That strategy keeps SSPC's civilian coordination role visible while relying on a National Guard increasingly integrated with SEDENA.

WOLA, HRW, and Amnesty describe the same institutional shift as a militarization risk. Their reporting supports a sourcing caveat: official sources explain the legal structure and strategy, while rights organizations emphasize oversight, accountability, and abuse concerns that remain unresolved in many public accounts.