Originally posted by junior
You'll probably also see a lot of surplus Confed equipment from the Kilrathi war that's been transferred from Confed Navy to the local militias, just as you often see the Air National Guard in the US using slightly out of date military jets (at least they were - anyone know if the various national guard units are still using F-4s or have they all updated to F-16s?). So I would imagine at this point in time you'd see a BW militia that is using a lot of stuff similar to what Blair flew on the Concordia and the Victory, in addition to some of their home brewed stuff such as the Banshee. Personally, I'd be surprised if they'd updated their unique fighters.
Well, the Border Worlds were already using equipment similar to that on the Concordia (Sabres and Rapiers) and equivalent to that on the Victory (Banshees and Vindicators) back in WC:4. If they are still using equipment of that calibre in 2681, then they've pretty much frozen in time, which I would have trouble believing after the fright they were given by the Black Lance. When you're already behind, it doesn't make much sense to stand still when the rest of the universe is racing ahead. I tend more towards the theory that the Border Worlders are not so much at the same place as they were in WC4, but rather at the same place *relative* to Confed. Their fighter tech wouldn't have closed the gap in any huge way, but its feasible that they would have kept pace.
Also, while the analogy of the Border Worlder's capability being that of the ANG to Confed's USAF might be valid, it's important to keep in mind that unlike the ANG, the Border Worlds military represents a sovereign nation and its government. The interests of two nations, even allies, are very rarely exactly the same, which means that politics will play a big part. On the domestic front, the Border Worlds government might have a hard time convincing its people to trust Confed to always be there, given both Confed's ambivalent relations with frontier planets in general and the specific problems that lead to the Black Lance conflict. On the international front, given the cost cutting Confleet faced post war, and the amount of work it already has to do both protecting Confed space and keeping an eye on the Kilrathi, it might not go down too well in Confed's government if the Border Worlders stopped developing their military and expected Confed to do the hard work of protecting them indefinitely. All of these things might well play a part in determining whether the Border Worlders keep their fighter industries going or not.
Raptor Leader: The Free Republic of Landriech and the Border Worlds Union are two seperate entities. The landreich Republic is a group of a dozen to two dozen worlds that are on the edges of human space, but not directly on the front lines of the war against the Kilrathi. They've pretty much been independant of Confed since fairly early in the War.
The Border Worlds Union was formed after the War, and consists mainly of frontier worlds that were loosely part of Confed during the War. They were mostly worlds that were on the frontlines. They are quite a bit bigger than the FRL, having something like 70 to 80 worlds (about half of which are on the WC
map, the rest on LOAF's map).
No-one's sure what relations between the two now are like. The FRL provided some support to the Border Worlders in the Black Lance conflict, repairing and supplying fighters to the Intrepid. After that though, it's anyone's guess.
Best, Raptor