DB I disagree with your initial assessment.
6 years in the USMC, 10 years in the MIC.
The wife is an officer in the ANG and works in the MIC too.
I married up!
Is there some corruption within the MIC. Yes. But it is not quite the nefarious kind you are thinking of. And certainly not permeating at all those levels.
A lot of the MIC is made up of former military types. Nearly all are good people.
Are there certain systems that require contractor support? Yes. A lot of those guys were in the uniform at one time, some of them retired and made the switch to contractor life.
But we never had any problems deploying without contractor support. Something new would come out of SPAWAR-Atlantic, a contractor led New Equipment Team (NET) would show up for a week or two of training and we were the new experts.
Later, as a contractor in the MIC, I was one of those NET instructors.
Concerning UAVs, not quite. The unarmed ones require just as much logistical support as the armed ones.
Getting UAV surveillance support in Afghanistan was not easy on several levels.