The Foxbat Effect is when an
autocratic country, wanting to show how
threatening and virile they are, overhype the effectiveness of their weapons, prompting wealthier and more powerful liberal democracies to develop weapons designed to actually counter the hyped-up weapons, only to then find out that the perceived threat was a turd.
So named for the MiG-25 “Foxbat”, which prompted the
development of the F-15.