While the more hysterical Western fears of Soviet capabilities were certainly overblown, the same is true of more hysterical Soviet fears of Western tech. Soviet gear introduced during the 80s certainly way outclassed anything the F-4 and M60 could do. While each side might have been somewhat inferior and somewhat superior in certain aspects at certain time, on average they generally kept pace with each other in terms of weapons technology.
F-4 could carry modern missiles and radar as well as F-15. M-60 Sabra is still a pretty good tank. With lower cost of acquisition more could have been spent on training, or, even better, in reducing defense expenditure and maybe working on something more important on long term.
Disagree on the Sturgeon. Soviet subs got extremely quieter after they bought the Toshiba prop milling machine. Their newer subs are really good. Very hard to track. I would not have wanted to be on the receiving end of a "Dance of the Vampires" attack either. Their ASMs are very fast. They also have pretty good SAMs and ground based AAA.
Sturgeon was already pretty quiet. And, of course, US sub development was pretty much evolutionary rather than revolutionary, a sensible route, IMHO.