You do know, do you not, that this ship was a prototype, with no fire suppression gear yet installed.
And that as a result of this fire the material of construction was changed quite dramatically; still composite, but not flammable.
I’ll admit it’s not a good look, just like the SJ-100 that flew straight into the side of Mt. Salak. That was pilot error pure and simple, but sales of the SJ-100 were definitely affected. Life’s not fair.
On your other point, it will be very hard for any pirate or smuggler to get within machine gun range of one of these vessels.
Unless it hides behind an island