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Tharkad Aerospace Group

Tharkad Aerospace Group
Tharkad aerospace group.jpg
Corporation Profile
Founding Yearca. 2407[1]
AffiliationLyran Commonwealth
HeadquartersAesiria Station (Tharkad)[1]
LeadershipCEO
Product(s)DropShips

The Tharkad Aerospace Group (better known as TAG) was a Lyran Commonwealth-based DropShip manufacturing company.

History[edit]

TAG was founded just after the Lyran Commonwealth government chose Tharkad as its new capital world in 2407.[1][2] The company situated its main manufacturing facilities in a set of orbital shipyards which have been given the name of Aesiria Station.[3] The yards have produced both civilian and military type DropShips over time, and was noted in 3067 as being one of the oldest manufacturers of DropShips still active.[1]

After the Star League fell, the company came into hard times, with production falling off substantially. The company opened its orbital shipyards for repair and refit work to anyone, including local corporate rivals.[1] By the thirty-first century, TAG had developed something of a good working relationship with its friendly rival, Semier Data Tron. At this time, Semier granted TAG a joint license to manufacture Fortress-class DropShips, and TAG began refitting them with the Movem-XL Drive from its Mammoth production line.[4]

Prior to the Jihad, TAG's corporate leadership begun bolstering its private aerospace defense force. In turn, its rival Semier did the same for its surface factories and orbital facilities. This produced question if leadership of both companies had lost their fondness each other begun turn bitter rivalry.[1]

During the Jihad and Word of Blake occupation of Tharkad, TAG's factories took heavy losses. The manufacturing facilities were reduced to a quarter of their pre-Jihad output. With only 15% of their workforce coming through the Jihad, this wasn't surprising.[5] Aesiria Station was only producing Mule- and Intruder-class DropShips in 3079.[3]

Manufacturing[edit]

TAG-Manufacturing has a manufacturing center on the following planet:

Tharkad[edit]

Components produced on Tharkad:[6]
Component Type
DropShips
Behemoth[1][6] DropShip
Fortress[1][6] DropShip
Intruder[1][6][3] DropShip
Mule[1][3] DropShip
Trutzburg (from 3100)[7] DropShip
Interplanetary Drive - DropShips
Movem-XL Drive Intruder & Fortress[6]
Sunburst M200-L Megadrive Behemoth[6]

Notes[edit]

As to location, two sourcebooks show that TAG was originally on Gibbs. However, Handbook: House Steiner has the shipyards in Tharkad's orbit with a history stretching to its founding in the 2400s. Writers of BattleTech have ruled that TAG's location over Gibbs was an error and it is and has always been in orbit of Tharkad and that the original Objective Raids was in error.[8]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Handbook: House Steiner, p. 147: "Tharkad Aerospace Group (TAGCorp)"
  2. BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction, p. 20: "Timeline - Terran Hegemony Era"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Objectives: Lyran Alliance, p. 25: "Tharkad Aerospace Group"
  4. Objective Raids, p. 82: TAG Profile
  5. Objectives: Lyran Alliance, p. 3: "State of the Industry at a Glance (Dec 3079)"
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Objective Raids, p. 82: "Produced TAG Components
  7. Technical Readout: 3145 Lyran Commonwealth, pp. 52–53: "Trutzburg"
  8. BattleTech Writer's ruling on TAG's location (dead link)

Bibliography[edit]