Everything isnt a conspiracy. The Harrier isn’t known for gear failures. More like the Navy knew that gear failures happen on -every- plane in the inventory, bar none. But that the Harrier is the only one you could possibly settle down into a cradle with little more expense than a sawhorse,,,,with no damage.
Good planning ahead USN/USMC.
Well actually this WAS a conspiracy, by definition. Because more than one person conspired to create the nose "stool" to be used exactly for this situation. And, this situation could not occur without the plane trying to land, which would include a pilot at the controls. And, said pilot knew nothing about this nose stool.
Therefore the nose stool was create by multiple people without informing the very person who's life would depend on it's proper use. That's a conspiracy of silence, and a fairly serious one, since the life of the pilot would depend on him using it properly and pilots tend to like to know about their equipment and practice using them to keep from, like, dying.
So why do it? Only one reason comes to my mind - it was an issue they didn't want to worry the pilots about, because it would have meant more training, money, red tape, review problems, whatever for the Navy. BUT, it was also a problem they wanted to prepare for so as not to get a pilot killed over something they could prevent. Solution? Conspiracy. Make the nose stool, don't tell the pilot, only use it if necessary.