Yeah ... nah
I've been involved in a few Bilateral EX. A lot of tier II militaries, especially in South East Asia, specifically gear up the units involved in the BI-EX. Either that or the unit participating is a higher echelon/elite unit with better TO&E to start with. Their GI units could be using ALICE gear from the 70s for all you know (and up until 2010ish were still using steel pots and ALICE web from my personal observation).
My one big take away though - how much go-fast kit you are kitted out in has no relevance to how "professional" your infantry units are. Unit preparedness, motivation, discipline and outright ability to execute out in the field transcends your Gucci kit levels. Stretched example - a sloppily flown F-35 is gonna get shot down by a well drilled J-10/PL-15/KJ-500 combo all day, every day.
Bottom line. A military has a finite budget and multiple and different threats and priorities. A sane military allocates spending based on needs, not optics. If the CONOPS dictates a war of drones and directed fire, then my priority is for them to have the latest in digital, encrypted comms. Everything else, even the rifle, is secondary - go faster helmets and latest multi-cam do nothing other than score some pride points. YMMV if you instead anticipate LIC-COIN policing actions.
Go beyond the superficial and look at how needs vs wants drive these things.
