This is pretty generous, and while I'd like to believe it I don't think such a belief can be justified. The article, which is one of the best surveys on the mat

This is pretty generous, and while I'd like to believe it I don't think such a belief can be justified. The article, which is one of the best surveys on the matter I can find, doesn't really address whether the cargo cults understood modern technology. The furthest it goes is to state that for them, ritual was a kind of technology meant to achieve practical effects. We can say at the very least that the cargo cults did not understand how their rituals could achieve anything substantial.