About the Bearcat: Well, like Earthworm said, old designs were reused. But hey, maybe the Bearcat got cancelled after the whole BL affair - entirely possible that the Senate, shocked as it was by Tolwyn's actions, would have frozen the production of the Bearcat. This, of course, wouldna make any sense - but its politics; it doesn't have to make sense
. Governments can be very fickle - as Avro found out when they developed the Arrow.
Alternatively, the Bearcat - being a sort of middle step between '81 ships and '69 ships, could be in use at more important locations, such as the Confed-Kilrathi border in Enigma. After all, while Vega and Sol Sectors (where SO takes place) are exceedingly important, they would have been considered safe until the bugs started showing up, and by then it was too late - hence the use of '69 ships rather than the top of the line '81 ships, or the in-between '73 Bearcats.
Of course, all that is pure speculation, and I'm certain there are hundreds of reasons why the above would be completely incorrect
.
In regards to the Dragon - it was indeed a great new design. Very powerful, and probably quite economic when it comes to fuel (but not when it comes to the pricetag
).
However, it should be noted that the US could have been the first to launch a satellite into space.
What the hell has this to do with Dragons? Simple. They could've launched the satellite had they used an existing rocked design - but this rocket design had been derived from the WWII German V-2 rocket. Thus, it was decided to develop a new design from scratch, for the very obvious reason of public image. And this is what happened to the Dragon. Who knows, maybe there are still five or six Dragons out there in Confed research bases? Or maybe there's even a new fighter design based on the Dragon, which cannot be put into production due to the Dragon's history? Again, pure speculation, and almost totally baseless
.
Oh, and I think "unlikely" is an overestimate of Blair's chances to come back. Try, "when hell freezes over"
.
Why do we need pictures of jumping Panthers? Maniac & Co. jump in during the Comm Relay Station mission (when Blair's kidnapped). That should be proof enough
.
BTW, don't
all WCP ships have jump drives?