Defense industry
Encyclopedia
The defense industry, also called the military industry, comprises government
and commercial
industry
involved in research, development, production, and service of military materiel, equipment and facilities. It includes:
It can also include:
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
and commercial
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
involved in research, development, production, and service of military materiel, equipment and facilities. It includes:
- Defense contractorDefense contractorA defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military department of a government. Products typically include military aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and electronic systems...
s: business organizations or individuals that provide products or services to a defense department of a government - The Arms industryArms industryThe arms industry is a global industry and business which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology and equipment. It comprises government and commercial industry involved in research, development, production, and service of military material, equipment and facilities...
, which produces guns, ammunition, missiles, military aircraft, and their associated consumables and systems
It can also include:
- Private military contractors: private companies that provide logistics, manpower, and other expenditures for a military force
- European defence procurementEuropean defence procurementEuropean defence procurement refers to the collective armaments purchasing policies of European nations.Traditionally European countries have either developed their own weapon systems or bought 'off the shelf' systems usually NATO-sponsored from the United States or from the Soviet Union, now from...
, which is more or less analogous to the U.S. "military-industrial complexMilitary-industrial complexMilitary–industrial complex , or Military–industrial-congressional complex is a concept commonly used to refer to policy and monetary relationships between legislators, national armed forces, and the industrial sector that supports them...
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