SCP Foundation

I see it come up every now and again, so I feel like asking, what sort of heavy hardware, especially military hardware, do you guys think the Foundation has? Armored cars? Tanks? Fighter and attack aircraft? Large military seacraft? Satellites and spaceships?

Me, personally, I don't see the Foundation having anything they can't easily handwave away as one of the following: 1) mundane Military activity, 2) mundane Law Enforcement activity, or 3) mundane front company activity. So they have a few of the Big Guns, but they almost never use them. The exception is the MTF whose number escapes me; they're nickname is "The Bigger Boat," and they're basically Foundation-aligned Navy personnel drafted straight into the Foundation. Like, the Foundation tells the US or Royal Navy "We want that one," and the crew comes as part of the package. Otherwise, they use things on-loan from cooperative militaries or make due with more mundane means of kicking ass.

So what do you all think?

My headcanon allows for Nu-7 to have armed helicopters, large transport aircraft and possibly something like an A-10, as well as light armored vehicles (as per the MTF info page). I don't see much use for fighter aircraft or tanks in relation to most skips, although some heavy artillery probably makes sense.

For Theta-5 (The Bigger Boat), I can headcanon armed patrol craft, icebreakers and deep-sea exploration vessels, but I struggle with those skips that give the Foundation destroyers, battleships or anything that large.

To the extent that something larger or more specialised is required, I would prefer to imagine the Foundation having to request its use (or the co-operation of the relevant armed forces).

A lot of my head canon revolves around people using seemingly mundane means of travel. A 2001 Ford Explorer with built in light armor for example. A news traffic helicopter for quick extractions. A Peterbuilt semi-truck with a portable lab inside. Mobile containment platform aboard a greasy freight train. Things that you can drive in broad day light that don't bring attention.

The MTF's can be less conspicuous. Light to heavy mobile vehicles for engagements are required. And very likely they use second hand military vehicles purchased at a discount from less than reputable arms dealers and dictators. Diesel subs, cold war tanks, MiGs, lots of soviet-era surplus that was sitting in a hangar or harbor that never saw combat. They may have slightly outdated vehicles, but that doesn't mean their armament is, which I imagine the research division has hooked them up with some edgy weaponry in the field.

Like what Mac wrote above, I always thought that the foundation gets 'donations' from other countries in exchange for the Foundation helping contain any anomalies.
Thats why I think that the foundation owns only medium grade stuff, as in I don't think they'll have any real heavy tanks&ships&planes. But I do think that if they need some kind of heavy weaponry they'll extort some country to give it to them. So for example if suddenly a gigantic monkey came up in like, Canada and the only way to capture it will be using a biological weapon fired by an F35 then the Foundation will comandeer what they need to do their jobs.

Mobile Task Force Sigma-3 ("Damocles Shield") from SCP-2631 has fighters in an interceptor role, and fast deployment ground teams with light armor, all armed with tactical nuclear weapons. However these assets are nominally part of national forces and only get detached to the Foundation under a 99-Tripurantaka readiness order.

So, this page is outdated, but still very much part of my headcanon, and says that (as you suggest) the Foundation operates many vessels up to destroyer class under the guise of the military of their original owners.

As for the rest of it,

On the tangent of how the money is made, I'm personally a very big fan of the Multi-Universal diplomacy/trade agreements canon. Granted, if you follow that line of reasoning, it leads to all kinds of fun things, materiel-wise.