Using cross‐national data for more than two recent decades, this paper examines the effect of military buildups on corruption. Measuring military buildups via military spending and armed forces, and controlling for simultaneity, results consistently find greater military buildups to increase corruption across specifications. However, the level of economic development plays a crucial role, especially with regard to the effect of military forces. Greater state fragility is, ceteris paribus, associated with greater corruption. The influences of other factors are in accord with the literature.