Defense industrial base

A defense industrial base (DIB) is the network of organizations, facilities, and resources that provides a government with materials, products, and services for defense purposes, especially the supply of its armed military forces.^[1] It may include both public and private actors, including some entities that may not exclusively engage in defense-related production, and is often defined in geographical or national terms.^[1] It may also be divided according to the kinds of weapons and equipment produced.^[1] As a concept, the DIB is closely related to the notion of the military–industrial complex, and is often discussed as a foundational element of national power.

United States

The U.S. defense industrial base has attracted particular attention from policymakers, analysts, academics, and other commentators. Although the country has in some sense possessed a DIB since the Revolutionary War, the modern industrial base–in the form of a large, permanent network of defense-oriented industrial facilities, primarily owned and operated by private firms and maintained during peacetime--dates from the early Cold War.^[1] After significant expansion between the late 1940s and the late 1980s, the U.S. DIB experienced a period of contraction and consolidation associated with the reduction of defense spending following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.^[2][1] Since the early 2010s–and especially following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine–the U.S. government has increased the resourcing of the DIB, and production output for the sector as a whole appears to have risen correspondingly.^[1][3] Whether the DIB is appropriately sized, structured, and tasked is subject of considerable debate within the United States.^[4][5][6]

See also

• Military–industrial complex
• Weapons manufacturing
• List of countries with highest military expenditures