[ryanmarsh]

Would a (the) global superpower want its rivals to believe its capabilities are ahead or behind of their current state?

This leads me to believe we're never going to get an accurate picture of the state of a weapon development program through the press. Is the F-35 program in trouble, or not? If it was why would you let your adversaries know this?

It's an interesting question to consider.

[imtringued]

You want your enemy to overestimate your capabilities if you don't intend to fight them. If you want them to start a defensive war, you want them to underestimate you so you have a greater chance of successful provocation where you get to counterattack and destroy their unprepared forces.