it was one of my first projects, switching brain from chem-obsession to the wider universe of physics (the root of chem, natch.) I just built the circuit from a "Millman and [Seely?]" text, plugged in my scope 'Eyes' to watch its prestidigitations. Amazing one-tube-trick (though I needed a cathode follower for isolation.

i'd used a 'hearing-aid size' sub-min, shielded by a piece of iron pipe! for another hi-Z _input amp necessarily near to a high pulsed field. In the end, though:
vac tubes are voltage-controlled devices/xsistors are current-controlled. The FET tries to pretend, but.. You can make the one emulate the other but there Are trade-offs as you mention: heat, vibration/shock and the like, Xsistors rule when you're just flipping boring-#s of bits, for ex. Except when they melt. Or cosmic 'rays' swamp a femtoamp input-Z; then you need Glass. And no dirtied-up silicon alloys.

(I loved the book about the Fulcrum Russ fighter brought to Turkey (?) by a defecting pilot. Also Title of his book.) Usians made jokes about the vac. tube prevalence in the design of its critical electronics (maybe sometimes as mere backups.. dunno, never saw a MIG full-schematic diagram.) Then someone mentioned "EMP" and the smarter gigglers ..ceased.
Neat quip re the radar nonsense circuits-added, surely a no-brainer idea when one is engaged in Spy-vs-Spy ... but I bet it wasted a lot of EE sleuthing time (by anyone without a properly warped-War-type brain, at the outset.) Like the NoTrueScotsman, wouldn't most EEs say to selves: "no EE would ever create" such a kluge!"--it must be a clever piece I'm missing. (??)