What's in the field is in the open. Whats in the lab and on the "drawing board" is definitionally not deployed...or imminently deployable. And Black programs are also non-deterrent.
And keep in mind we have a whole slew of whiz-bang would-be military advisors who are so confident of our technical advantages, they want to end the F-22, the RPVs, the Carriers, the F-35, and ALL the associated gadgetry that makes them viable in the toughest war environments...all smeared as somehow "legacies of Cold War Thinking" [as if that is bad...that was a war we won] ...and "save the money" for more troops in the field.
The South Vietnamese Army was tailored expressly to deal with a guerrila war insurgency. When the armored divisions of North Vietnamese tanks rolled across the DMZ...the lightly-armored South was demolished in short order. The asymmetry of guerilla war was simply a ruse by the Communists to get the other side improperly structured against the real, MAIN OFFENSIVE THREAT.
One that the Communists are again fostering as against us...their Main Enemy. Trying to get us to delude ourselves again about the nature of the world and our enemies.
Oh back in 1973 at a little town called Quang-Tri there was a NVA offensive using armor. I seem to recall TOW missiles being used.
Again, I think that the south Viets were very clear on the NVA Armored threat. It was the US congress (Democrats) that cut funding for the South Vietnamese armor.
Blame the right guys. It wasn't the NVA fooling anyone, it was giving the Democrats the excuse they needed to betray out soldiers, who fought and bled there, and our allies.