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Several studies and simulations showed that although the Taurian WarShips were better defended than the SLDF ones against Aerospace Fighters (including those carrying Alamos), they still needed increase defenses to stand a chance to survive against a determined adversary.

While having a lower range and power than the capital missiles and without the capability of being armed with nukes, the Arrow IV SAMs were still very effective against ASFs. They were also much cheaper and took a lot less of volume and mass compared to the more conventional options. And until the heavy AMS systems reached production phase (which was still a long way to go), they were the best defense option available.

ABRD (Arano-Bassot Research and Development), based on Coromodir, was working on adapting the tracking and targeting systems of the AMS to be used with Pulse and ER Lasers. The difficult part was to let the weapons switch from AMS mode to the 'normal' one and vice-versa. If / when successful, these systems could be used in WarShips and DropShips, to defend them against all kind of missiles from SRMs and LRMs, to Arrow IV anti-ship, or even capital missiles, greatly improving the defenses of said Ships. While very promising, the program still had several problems to resolve. 

Because of this, a change in the configuration of the new Winchester II Heavy Cruiser was submitted just before it entered production, changing the layout of the weaponry.

Winchester II - final weapon configuration

Capital Weapons - 11 NL55, 4 NAC/30, 8 NAC/20, 2 NAC/10, 6 AR10 Launcher

Secondary Weapons - 16 ER Medium Laser, 22 ER Large Laser, 20 LB 10-X AC, 12 Arrow IV SAM

At the same time, all WarShips models, including the ones already in service (except the low-cost Pinto) also received 12 Arrow IV SAM, to substantially increase their defenses against ASFs.

This change was not well received by the shipyards as it would create delays in the construction of the first WarShips with all the needed changes in planning and logistics, without forgetting increases in the costs.

Meanwhile, things were moving ahead on the political front too. The immense power that the Arano-Bassot family had in the Concordat was not seen with good eyes by the other groups, with the exception, of course, of the ruling family. This led to continued protests, and in order to calm down the situation, Thomas ended up withdrawing the New Vandenberg government from Jean-Luc and hand it over to one of his most influential supporters groups that was against the situation.

Jean-Luc and Kamea, who had been waiting a long time for this to happen, were neither surprised nor offended by the position Thomas had to take, viewing it as a necessary measure to maintain power. Just as it was clear that it did not affect Jean-Luc's position in the various companies in which he had a stake, this being much more important for the family.

The exception being the Arano-Bassot shares in the New Vandenberg shipyard, that they are also 'forced' to sell to a conglomerate controlled by the politicians that had forced the relinquish of the government of the same system. The Arano-Bassot family, instead of fighting that in the tribunals, accepted the deal pacifically and immediately invested the received funds in the shipyard in the Mechdur system. That group also wanted to buy the Arano-Bassot shares in VMI, but they didn't have enough funds for that after having to buy the shares of the family in the shipyards. For now. They had a lot of political pull and financial might, but not enough money to pay for it. Their goal was to keep the Arano-Bassot within the Reach province.

However, their plan would lead them to nothing as in the last decade, Jean-Luc had used his influence and Kamea tax incentives and in some cases subsidies, to attract several Taurian companies in the Reach to create branches, if possible in Coromodir V, the former planet of the Espinosa family now fully controlled by the Arano-Bassot family.

The TMI was also getting better at finding info about the other powers even in the Inner Sphere.

For example, in recent years the intensity and severity of attacks by pro-Capellan guerrilla groups on the worlds that the Concordat had captured in the war in the 3030s, had increased substantially.

Unfortunately for the Concordat, their security forces had little experience in counterinsurgency operations (COIN). Only in Ward, which had been captured by the Reach, was the situation slightly better. This was due to the fact that due to years of having to deal with pro-Espinosa fanatics, Reach security forces had more experience in COIN operations.

During their regular exchanges with the MIIO, the TMI discovered that the same thing was happening in the Sarna March, Romano Liao had clearly adopted a different strategy this time, one that made raids in retaliation unlikely.

On November the 2nd, of 3051, Hanse Davion suffered a mild heart attack. Although he recovered almost completely, he was forced to reduce his work rate substantially, with Melissa Steiner-Davion taking over many of her husband's duties. At that time, Victor Steiner-Davion who was on active duty in the 12th Donegal Guards RCT, had been called back to New Avalon, but it was apparently decided that he would not take the throne before gaining more experience.

Curiously, around the same time, Katherine Steiner-Davion also entered NAIS for prolonged medical treatment, but it was not specified for which illness.

Rumors were that the AFFC had started to field 'Mechs equipped with more variants of Ultra and LBX cannons – LBX-2, 5, and 20 and Ultra 2, 10 and 20. So far none had been confirmed, but if one took in consideration the 'love' the Davions have for ballistic weapons, it has to be expected.

The TMI confirmed that all nations had initiated searching programs where there had been ancient naval battles, apparently looking for wrecks of WarShips that were possible to recover. At the moment, they had no information on the results, only that the ongoing searches were extensive.