From my not-very-informed perspective US competitors don't need to catch up to Chinese equipment, the Chinese equipment makers are locked out. If anything the US equipment makers would have the OPPOSITE motivation, get the spectrum sold and get their sub-standard equipment into the networks before the position of the US government could possibly change and they face real competition. And that is kind of what is happening, right? The actual story here is the FCC (lead by carrier and equipment friendly folks) are seemingly pushing ahead despite concerns from other industries, no?
Also, not so long ago there were "reports" claiming Huawei devices were compromised and no evidence was provided. The negative marketing against China has been candid and in the open. The US is just trying to win in the court of public opinion on several fronts.
So yeah, "The military is scrambling to understand the aviation crash risk from a new 5G sale" and don't provide a technical basis for the concern: it reads propaganda all over.
Is this frequency congested anywhere in the world with or without 5G technology to test?
And around the world 5G is not being deployed at the same frequencies! They are concerned about a particular spectrum. Lots of the purchased spectrum as I understand it is 30Gz+, they are raising zero concerns about that.