Originally Posted by
Quemerford
Conversely most "civilian MU[s]" (MROs we call then nowadays) or airlines themselves are able to routinely achieve 99.5% despatch reliability - and more - on aircraft which are of far higher complexity than a number of the aircraft being discussed here.
While more complex, a slightly more recently designed airliner is actually designed to be flown and maintained to that level of reliability. In contrast, the Lightning was designed to a specific task, with all other considerations falling by the wayside, and as a result will never be able to reach such levels of reliability. It is not just a matter of using a modern MRO organisation, it is the level of technology within the design that dictates the maintainability requirements, not the complexity.