"The universal lesson that gear takes far longer to develop and is far more expensive each generation is only superficially understood."
But should it? Perhaps 70+ years of peace have led to a lack of drive to bring useful kit into service quickly - there is a strong tendency to spin things out, aim for perfection, test and train for years all of which is eating us alive.
We can all think of systems & kit that was rushed into service in an emergency, peformed reasonably well and then went back into the System for several further years before being finally released for service.