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Military Materiel Redemption Program

The Military Materiel Redemption Program (MMRP), often informally called the BattleMech Buyback,[1] was the Republic of the Sphere's flagship arms reduction and trade-in program.

Overview[edit]

Devlin Stone launched the Military Materiel Redemption Program in early 3083 as an offshoot of the related Citizenship Priority Decree, in an effort to invigorate the economy, centralize control of heavy arms in the hands of the state, and turn the Inner Sphere towards peace.[2][3]

Administrated in part by the civilian Materiel Redemption Bureau and in part by the military Materiel Oversight Division, the MMRP was a large-scale effort to ensure an end to military hardware in private ownership. The Republic government, through various means, took in hardware, particularly BattleMechs. Some was given to planetary militias or museums. Most, however, was melted down and used to produce approximately a billion peace medals — medals showing the Republic seal on one side and the minting date on the other, sold to the public.[2][3] At the same time, non-military and demilitarized economic development was actively encouraged, both through the loans that were part of the program and through various legal and financial incentives;[3][4] the Brigadier Corporation, for instance, was used as a showcase, shifting its Scorpion line on Oliver to produce Heavy Lifter IndustrialMechs.[5]

Acquiring Materiel[edit]

Buybacks[edit]

The core of the MMRP was its buyback program. Surrendered equipment — BattleMechs, battle armor, combat vehicles, small arms caches — was appraised and given a value by the Materiel Redemption Bureau, with some room for minor and rarely-done haggling. Owners would permanently renounce their claims to the surrendered equipment.[2][3] Compensation came in several forms:

  • Citizenship, skipping the Republic's standard five years of service. This was highly controversial, immediately after enactment and for decades afterwards. Groups like the Immigrant Citizenship Coalition objected to the uneven treatment for those wealthy enough to have materiel to surrender, compared to others.[3][6]
  • Money, in a lump sum, per the value given by the Bureau.[2][3]
  • Government-secured business loans, granted for surrendering BattleMechs. This encouraged the launch of a multitude of new businesses, and aided their survival.[2][3]
  • Large land grants, again for BattleMechs.[2][3]
  • Patents of nobility, per one source, were also offered.[7]

Seizure and Salvage[edit]

The MMRP did not work by buybacks alone. Not all illegal owners of military hardware would surrender it willingly. The Materiel Oversight Division's primary purpose was to investigate reports of illegal military hardware ownership and, if necessary, seize the hardware by force[2] or exile the owner and their equipment from the Republic.[7] By 3095, the Republic supplemented its own short-staffed Materiel Oversight Division with mercenaries, a rare opportunity in weak years for the industry.[8]

The Materiel Oversight Division also scoured Jihad-era battlefields across the Republic in search of salvageable equipment, an effort that continued through at least 3134.[9]

Results[edit]

The MMRP showed rapid success, and similar programs proliferated throughout the territories of the Successor States and, to a lesser extent, the Clans.[10], greatly encouraged by the Republic.[11] Extensive support for new businesses and a shift from BattleMech to IndustrialMech production helped enable three decades of rapid economic growth.[3]

While the MMRP and its associated restrictions cleared a large amount of privately-held materiel, they were not as complete as Stone hoped. A substantial amount of equipment evaded being turned in, some (such as what would become the Grey Watch regiment) misreported as destroyed.[12][13] Meanwhile, multiple companies, including Bannson Universal Unlimited and Irian Technologies, eventually ran secret BattleMech production programs concealed from Republic authorities' eyes.[14][15]

Notes[edit]

  • The MMRP's full name is spelled inconsistently. Both "materiel" and "material" are widely used in canon sources.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Flight of the Falcon, ch. 12
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Field Manual: 3085, p. 163: "Military Materiel Redemption Program"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Dark Age: 3132-3134 INN, p. 3: "Without the BattleMech: Stone's Military Materiel Redemption Program 65 Years Later"
  4. ↑ Empires Aflame, pp. 3-4: "The End of the 'Mech?"
  5. ↑ Technical Readout: Irregulars, p. 46: "Heavy Lifter CargoMech MOD"
  6. ↑ Field Manual: 3085, p. 162: "Citizenship"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Empires Aflame, p. 6: "The Players' Group"
  8. ↑ Empires Aflame, pp. 4, 6
  9. ↑ Technical Readout: Irregulars, p. 10: "Maruhanabachi Carrier Airship"
  10. ↑ Dark Age: Republic of the Sphere, p. 27: "Devlin Stone"
  11. ↑ Dark Age: 3132-3134 INN, pp. 247-248: "Triumph of Republic – Lessons for a Wayward Generation"
  12. ↑ Shattered Fortress, pp. 94, 105
  13. ↑ MechWarrior: Dark Age - Dossiers and Pilot Cards, p. 236: "K. Kitsman"
  14. ↑ Turning Points: Irian, pp. 5, 8
  15. ↑ MechWarrior: Dark Age - Sneak Peeks, p. 54: "Raider Mk II"

Bibliography[edit]

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