A less cynical view is that it keeps the military industrial complex healthy and robust in case an urgent need (e.g. WWII) arises. I'd much prefer to just hand cash to Raytheon for that and not have them shoot anyone though....
How do we know that MIC would draw the line when it comes to the national interest, It's not too long that the USSR and USA came close to destroying themselves and the world; What if the WWIII itself is triggered for MIC's interests?
The kind of weapons we need to be developing to fight a near peer adversary are entirely different from the types used to fight small scale wars. You can see this in the new talking points around near peer fight.