It's really amazing that this game has never had a 2nd edition. Not like the minor rules touch-ups in Total Warfare. I mean like, a total revamp the way WOTC does for their pet franchises.
Because let's be honest here; there's a lot that's clunky and unbalanced, and the only thing that makes the game work are a bunch of unspoken gentlemen's agreements that nobody is going to be obnoxious and bring too many cluster table weapons that bog the game down or too many clan pulse lasers or whatever.
It is rather odd considering that most tabletop games do tend to get refreshed editions. BT is an oddity in that.
Amusing too. Consider: There are people who still want to play old editions of DnD and Warhammer and whatever else, or even create retro-like editions/house rules. BattleTech? Eh, it is the same old, in good and bad. Met someone in the summer who was surprised to see BattleTech being played, and was highly interested to hear the game was more or less as he remembered it.
It is possible back in the FASA days, they didn't really think it to be worth it: Keep people happy by having maximum compatibility. I mean, every single time there's a new DnD (or Warhammer or whatever) edition, people do freak out.
Alternatively, perhaps FASA didn't think BT would really retain its popularity long enough to bother with such an idea. Just pump out expansion materials until people stop buying them, and then forget about it. Honestly think this was the most likely reason.
Or perhaps they never figured out HOW, while keeping the game simulation-like. I've thought about various ideas but they really need some heavy-duty reworking for the game, if not ground-up rebuilding it. Not a simple task by any means, depending on what kind of limits one places for a revamped edition.
As for post-FASA eras, reworking the system was probably off the table for financial and perhaps even licensing issues (while MWDA existed, reworking BT probably could've been seen as competition). It just wouldn't be cost effective to redo everything. Or at least it would be highly risky, if old people would quit over having to rebuy all their 'Mech books, new people would have to be found in sufficient numbers... yet if that would fail, it would be the end.
Radical changes to BT aren't exactly welcomed though. MWDA was immensely popular at its high though its nature didn't lend to a long-term game, but regardless of that, it was highly divisive among old-school fans. I can't say if Alpha Strike is popular or not but it certainly is divisive at times as well.
Personally i would not have any trouble with radical reworking as long as the game stays simulation-like (Alpha Strike is too abstracted for my tastes). Market research probably ignores people like me though.