War isn’t just something the United States of America (USA) wages overseas. It has become an entrenched aspect of that country’s foreign policy, domestic economic production and employment.
This extraordinary pattern of perpetual conflict by the USA is not incidental. It has become woven into the very fabric of American economic life because for the USA, peace is not very profitable. War time expenditure creates demand for materials, technology, and labour. They sustain powerful industries and a sprawling Pentagon procurement system that dwarfs most other sectors.
Every year, US federal budgets allocate hundreds of billions of dollars to military operations, procurement and research, money that flows directly into private firms and defence-oriented regions. Combine these facts with reports that at least 50 members of the US Congress or their immediate households currently hold stock in defence contractors, and this is a serious cause for concern.
The USA’s defence budget for 2026 is projected to reach record highs, with proposed spending exceeding US$1 trillion. This represents a significant multi-year increase, sure to make the boardrooms of defence contractors very happy. Imagine how much good could be done with the USA’s defence budget when liberal estimates to end global hunger are about US$330 billion, a mere fraction of the USA’s war money.
Since the USA entered World War I, it has engaged in more than a dozen major wars and scores of smaller military interventions all over the world.
Today, unwavering US backing of Israel underscores how defence commitments shape foreign policy.
Over 15 000 arms manufacturers operate across America, and the defence sector contributes roughly 3% to 4% to the USA’s GDP while employing millions. Critics argue that this entrenches a war-driven economy in which conflict fuels contracts, profits and political influence, making peace less lucrative than perpetual military readiness. For over a century, the economic architecture of the USA has been shaped not just by markets, technology, and consumer demand, but by war. Since World War I, the United States has been involved in hundreds of military conflicts, with estimates of well over 197 separate military engagements of various sizes recorded in official lists of US wars and conflicts.
These include formal wars, proxy actions, covert operations, and decades-long interventions that extend well beyond traditional battlefields.
One of the clearest indicators of this dynamic is the sheer scale of the US defence industry.
The American defence and aerospace sectors, one of the world’s largest industrial complexes, generate hundreds of billions of dollars in economic value annually and account for a measurable share of the USA’s GDP.
In 2023, the aerospace and defence industries generated about US$425 billion in economic output, representing up to 1.6 % of the massive US nominal GDP, and supported millions of jobs.
This may seem small compared to the overall size of the US economy, but in real terms, it’s a vast and profitable industry. The US defence market itself was valued at over US$350 billion in 2026 and is projected to grow further in the coming years.
However, this figure doesn’t fully capture the indirect and induced economic effects of military spending in the US.
Every defence contract sustains suppliers, logistics networks, regional real estate markets and local tax bases. A study by the European Parliament’s research arm found that the US Defence Industrial Base comprises over 60 000 companies and more than a million workers.
This industrial base doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is underpinned by perpetual geopolitical crisis and the continuous justification of military readiness.
Detractors of the so-called “military-industrial complex” have warned that a close connection between the US government, its armed forces, and defence contractors could distort national priorities, and currently that warning rings truer than ever.
For example, US support for Israel and that country’s wars have, for decades, seen Israel as the largest cumulative recipient of US military assistance in history.
Israel has received an incredible US$310 billion in economic and military aid since its founding. Much of this aid is structured so that Israeli purchases of weapons and defence systems go directly to American manufacturers.
In the current Gaza war alone, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid and shipments of weapons, artillery, and ammunition. Most of this aid is money that inevitably finds its way back into the coffers of US defence companies.
Whether one supports Israel’s security or not, this form of foreign policy highlights the deeper reality that US military aid is not only about diplomacy or strategic deterrence but rather a form of economic stimulus for its domestic industry. This isn’t a fringe interpretation. A 2025 Wall Street Journal analysis showed that current conflicts in the Middle East have opened a multi-billion-dollar pipeline of arms sales to companies such as Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and others.
Moreover, globally, the US weapons industry is no small player. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), American firms accounted for nearly half of the US$679 billion in arms revenue generated by the top 100 global manufacturers in 2024, with US companies earning roughly US$334 billion.
That means the American share of global arms production is dominant. Critics argue that a war-dependent economy is inherently unstable and morally fraught. War spending crowds out investment in infrastructure, education, health care and social services. It ties economic growth to destruction rather than creation, and it rewards geopolitical instability.
Investments funnelled into weapons could be invested in clean energy, schools, or public health, but instead it goes toward systems that are designed for killing and destruction. Supporters of the US’s defence spending counter that the military sector drives innovation, sustains high-tech jobs, and maintains global influence.
Despite this argument, the reality on the ground is that the US economy benefits when weapons are produced, and wars are waged or threatened. This creates structural incentives for policymakers and major corporations to prioritise conflict over peace.
When war spending becomes an economic engine, peace becomes an expensive aspiration.
– ebrandt@nepc.com.na