“Over the years, the military-industrial complex formed by the US military, arms dealers, and politicians has reaped enormous wealth from taxpayers.”

Reasons for sky-high procurement price in US military industry - China Military

“Chronic overcharging by arms companies not only wastes money, but it also puts our security at risk by increasing the chances that weapons systems funded by the Pentagon will be overpriced, underperforming, and never fully ready for combat.Meanwhile, even as they cry out for more funding, the big contractors are diverting the billions they already receive to pad their bottom lines. Rather than using their increased revenues to produce better weapons or research new ones, the major contractors have been putting the bulk of their windfall into tens of billions in buybacks of their own shares to boost their prices, along with hundreds of millions in compensation for top executives. This does nothing to enhance our defense and everything to enrich military corporations.”

Arms industry's price gouging shows how greed trumps national interest