That is too simplistic. Plenty of new technology saw civilian use first, such as photography, X-ray, telephone, moveable type, smartphones or smallpox inoculation. Even FPV drones were mostly an over-the-counter toy for nerds until 2022.

Now civilian use only, that would be different, few technologies are civilian-only, with no possible military use. But war as the first use is not as frequent case as you assert.