The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 letter word ARMS RACE
A
R
M
S
R
A
C
E
More clues leading to the result ARMS RACE
- Potentially dangerous competition that sounds like a charity fun run!
- Right to interrupt Mars broadcast on top power struggle?
- Violent Mars has people rush to war
- Mars furious with people for an accumulation of weapons
- Member cares about dangerous situation escalating
- Family’s branches overseeing the struggle for power
- Vehicles mass in period that’s retrograde in military build-up
- International competition that could give a jolly group dreadful scare
- 17 American/Russian leaders' ultimate stratagem, creating scare
- Dangerous inter country rivalry with loss of leader destroys nation
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "military build-up" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case military build-up = arms race.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.