That's true, but also beside the point. Flatcircle's point wasn't really predictive maintenance vs. fixed lifetime, it was about government using conservative

That's true, but also beside the point. Flatcircle's point wasn't really predictive maintenance vs. fixed lifetime, it was about government using conservative design margins vs for-profit industry's riskier design margins. Predictive maintenance lets you achieve a better cost-vs-risk curve, but the organization still needs to select a point somewhere along that curve.