Blankenburg Technologies

Blankenburg Technologies is a minor weapon and satellite manufacturer affiliated to the Draconis Combine. They are a partially owned subsidiary of Independence Weapons, with Luthien Armor Works owning a minority stake in the company. Blankenburg is best known for producing the Katana out of interchangeable parts with the ubiquitous BattleMaster.

Recent History

Blankenburg was turned back into a storage and supply facility during the military drawdown ordered by the Republic of the Sphere. Like many minor suppliers for the DCMS, it was not viewed as critical enough by the state to keep active. Blankenburg turned this around quickly by expanding their refit and repair facilities. There was no contraction of the business or mass layoffs, unlike many other businesses. Blankenburg also attempted to acquire the licenses to new machines during that period for them to be sold through their owner, Independence Weapons. The only one which was acquired was the license to the rare and finicky Shogun.

In 3135, the DCMS restarted full production of equipment and the order reached Blankenburg by JumpShip. The refit lines were converted back to produce the Katana and BattleMaster by the end of the year, while the line producing the Tai-Sho came back online in late 3136. While most of their sales are going directly to the DCMS, a portion of it goes to Independence Weaponry for “international sales”.

Manufacturing

Battlemechs

• BattleMaster
• Katana
• Shogun (New production line)
• Tai-Sho

Effective Technology Level

Blankenburg is a product licensor and does not own any designs “in-house”. While the Katana is built by them, the original license comes from Grumium’s Crockett. All of Blankenburg’s R&D comes from Independence Weaponry, with Luthien Armor Works sending them upgraded specifications on some material irregularly. They can build C3 computers, have access to a ferro-fibrous foundry and printer, along with the materials to build Double Heat Sinks, but do not have a ferro-fibrous orbital mill or the ability to produce XL engines.

Blankenburg does not manufacture any Clan-graded technology.