military-industrial complex

/ˈmɪləˌtɛri ɪnˈdʌstriəl ˈkɑmplɛks/

Military industrial complex refers to the armed forces and all the businesses and government agencies that support them. Arms manufacturers and politicians who accept donations from them are part of the military industrial complex.

A company that makes weapons contributes to a politician's campaign; after the election, that legislator increases funding to the military, which purchases tanks and guns and ammunition from the company. That repeating cycle is what the phrase military industrial complex refers to. It was coined in 1961 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who warned about giving too much political power to arms manufacturers in a farewell speech.

Definitions of military-industrial complex

1. noun

   a country's military establishment and the industries that produce arms and other military equipment
   “"we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex"--Dwight David Eisenhower”

   type of:

   vested interest

   groups that seek to control a social system or activity from which they derive private benefit