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As long as the metric is not used as a target, it keeps being a relevant metric. All that tonnage needed to be manufactured.

That is an incorrect comparison.

The key and important factor of computer hardware has little to do with weight.

Whereas, weight is an important factor for aircrafts. A plane produced today will have similar capabilities as a plane produced 30 years ago of the same weight.

That is absolutely not the case for computer hardware.

Hardly, forged titanium bulkheads, dramatically improved engines, and composites. And before that, aluminum fuselages, improved aerodynamics, etc.

Hell, compare the F111 vs the F22 on every available metric.

Just like flops/gram has dramatically improved over time for computers.

Ben Rich talks about how much flight computers cost per pound in his memoirs. Can’t find the quote though as I’m out and iBooks says all my books are broken.

I mean, aircraft usability scales with weight in a way that computers do the opposite of.