military-industrial complex

plural military-industrial complexes

1. businessMilitary and industrial facilities situated in the same place.First known use early 20th c.

   Likewise, Shreveport was the heart of a military–industrial complex that extended west to Marshall, Texas, and northwest to Jefferson, Texas, 50 miles from Shreveport to which it was linked by steamer through Cypress Bayou and Caddo Lake.

   1953 summer, Waldo W. Moore, “The Defense of Shreveport—the Confederacy’s Last Redoubt”, in Victor Gondos, Jr., editor, Military Affairs: Journal of the American Military Institute, volume XVII, Baltimore, Md.: American Military Institute, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 74, column 1

2. alsoderogatoryoftenbusinessA nation's armed forces and industries (especially those supplying weapons and other materiel) collectively, regarded as a strong vested interest exerting great influence on the government.

   Over the past two years, Silicon Valley's leaders and investors—many of whom had once forsworn involvement in weapons and war—have plunged headfirst into the military industrial complex.

   2025 August 4, Sheera Frenkel, “Silicon Valley enlists in the business of war”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Aug 2025

   1 more example

   This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. […] In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

   1961 January 17, Dwight D[avid] Eisenhower, “The White House: Text of the Address by President Eisenhower, Broadcast and Televised from His Office in the White House, Tuesday Evening, January 17, 1961, 8:30 to 9:00 p.m., EST”, in Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home, archived from the original on 14 Jan 2026, section IV, page 3

   Synonyms: MIC, war machine