I have a hard time with that bit of fluff. Mechs are in such great demand, and so readily salvaged, that I can’t see a state turning down a capable design like the Vindicator. Davion kept building Cataphracts in captured factories, right? When Kurita took Quentin, they kept building Victors and Atlases. The Kell Hounds were fielding Panthers in the Warrior Trilogy. (Ok, the way they talk about them suggests that Dan and Morgan consider driving a Panther a bit déclassé, but it’s still way better than being dispossessed.) Would the FS prefer Blackjacks over Vindicators? Sure. But to refuse to buy Vindicators when they’re offered? That just doesn’t sound plausible.
Like I said, stupidity.
I doubt the FS "refused" to buy Vindicators that were sitting on the lot. I suspect it was more like reps from AFFS procurement were being treated to lunch by the manufacturer(can't recall the name right now), and a general explains that there's nothing
wrong with the merlot from Paulding. Rather that he simply prefers the a merlot from Woodbine. And if he has to pay $600 a bottle, he's going to get the one he likes, even if it takes a bit longer. How long would it take to do something else with that Vindicator factory?
The Cataphracts were new designs. There is interest in tearing those things apart to see if the Cappellans have done something new and innovative. Once the investigators and test pilots spend a few months putting them through their paces and digging through all the paperwork at the factory, they went, "Oh! Shiney!" The fact that it wasn't a historically Capellan design probably helped.
As to the usual shuffle of "Factory world X changes hands for the Nth time in a century, just change all the labels in the cockpit and paint a new flag on the mech's shoulder." That's a case of people not being stupid.
The Kell Hounds running with Panthers was battlefield salvage by a group that did not yet have more resources than the average planet. They were mercs, either in time of war or in the run up. In either case, it was before the Inner Sphere rediscovered mass production.
Listen to the Tex Talks Battletech on the Catapult some time...
While "mostly" tongue-in-cheek, Military development and bureaucracy can be an unusual thing indeed.
got a link handy?