One former US security guard given life sentence and three others receive 30-year term for 2007 deadly shooting in Iraq.
Nicholas Slatten received a life sentence for first-degree murder, while Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty and Paul Slough were imprisoned for charges that included manslaughter.
The ex-guards were convicted in October after a long legal fight over the deadly attack at the crowded Nisoor traffic circle in downtown Baghdad .
US District Judge Royce Lamberth announced the sentences after a day-long hearing at which defence lawyers had argued for leniency, and prosecutors asked that those sentences, the minimums mandatory under the law, be made even harsher.
"By imposing substantial sentences, this court would hold the defendants accountable for their callous, wanton and deadly conduct, and deter others wielding the awesome power over life or death from perpetrating similar atrocities in the future,'' prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Prosecutors have said the shooting was unprovoked, though defence lawyers countered that the men were targeted with gunfire from fighters and Iraqi police, and shot back in self-defence.
Al Jazeera correspondent Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington, said the sentencing will not bring an end to the legal wrangling, which began even before the guards were first charged in 2008.
"Because of the lack of a clear framework of accountability for US security contractors, these men are appealing their convictions," our correspondent said.
"It is clear that the Obama administration wanted to make an example of this case; but it is spending tens of billions of dollars on private military contractors, including the corporate descendants of Blackwater, while there remain unresolved questions on oversight, transparency and accountability."
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