Not that I'm a lore expert but I also think the initial assumptions are way overblown, too.
Also, taking into consideration ebvents from 2020 till 2045, national governments don't look too kindly on strong corporate military.
This also made me think. I do loosely recall lore snippets or statements from prior corporate wars saying "classic governments" are still powerful or can be and that they sometimes had to step in to put corporations in their place. I think even Night City or rather the Free State of Northern California as de-facto (independent) state and government has a military in the classic sense somewhere, although it's been hardly mentioned in the CP2077 context so far.
Good question, actually. Do they have a military force?
Lore veterans might smirk or know the answer now. For me, I had to do a little digging. Here's what I generally found, in order.
1) Possible custom lore source that may not be accurate or authentic for this lore
The home of the NorCal Military Base, NorthOak is Night City’s closest neighboring city. Smaller than Night City, North Oak’s towering structures and ship supers
cyberpunk-2036.obsidianportal.com
Summary of link in a nutshell: Describes Oak Wood as huge military base where classic military forces are concentrated and where MPs do all the policing. Do note, due to the nature of this site, this might possibly be custom lore or made up and not fully align with CP2020 or CP2077 lore.
2) Free deduction based on the state (government) itself
The Free State of Northern California, also known as North California or more commonly NorCal, was a state within the United States of America, which later became a Free State. It is located in the northern half of California, with SoCal bordering its south. California became a Free State in...
cyberpunk.fandom.com
We in essence have this independent state now that may at best be loosely tied to the Union. How does a state, small or big, keep its sovereignty or remotely maintain it? Armed forces. Could you trust international corporations, powerful players in this setting or not, fully to it? I doubt it. While local corporations or their employees might fight out of self interest in a potential war time scenario and siege on the city, assuming the attackers weren't part of the same group or corp, I doubt you'd fully rely on egoistic corpos, disgruntled cops, specialized or not, or some sort of generally armed but unprofessional or unreliable uncoordinated population.
You'd likely have your own professional trained fighting force with the right hardware in case your neighbours bug you. As "port city" or state you're also more at an abstract risk I think, or more of a potential target.
3) Night City wiki article - map section
Nobody ever leaves Night City. Except in a body bag.Bes Isis, N54 newscaster The Free City of Night City (NC) is an autonomous city located on the border between North and South California, on the Pacific coast of North America. It is considered a modern multicultural metropolis of the...
cyberpunk.fandom.com
This map lists
Zone H - Northoak
- The Oaks
- NORPAC Naval HQ
- NORCAL Airforce HQ
- NORCAL Army HQ
as military area. This is likely based on CP2020 lore related source books, where else would this come from? This would also complement the first link.
Summary:
As non-expert on the lore and after a quick search on the internet (I cannot check the lore or NC source books myself) and after seeing two sources (one might be generally custom and not fully trustworthy) plus a map reference specifically listing military bases and by using deduction on what could be likely, despite the oddities of this world, I think it can be assumed that the independent state of NorCal operates its own military forces that it can use or whip out if need be.
Given that they are probably numerous in relation to the general population and trained specifically for combat, I reckon they could put a dent with ease in any corporate forces - the local ones at least, that is. No military expert either, but for a general population of a few or many millions, I imagine at the very least tens of thousands of troops with combat focused implants and training and of course the appropriate hardware. Maybe they even have a hundred thousand soldiers or more, no clue.
Corpos might call the shots in every day life and politics in places such as NC or NorCal in the wider sense and thus on a global scale. But "straw men" in gov positions for better pro corp legislations or not, I think good gov fighting forces (that seemingly continue to exist) can still kick corporate butt any day in a conventional war time setting, at least. And if it would come to a scenario where they have to.
I don't think we get to see classic or huge conventional wars in the CP2077 story arc, though, let alone where a corporation and a state (one of the Cals, North or South) is involved.
Oh, right, post is getting long now. Time for a cut.