[S-99]

During times of war, there is always trying out new weapons. In the future for developing weapons is something that potentially happens faster. Weapons testing in the least during war. You'll always see something new out on the battlefield to be tested.

The avenger was a great weapon. But, for all we know, it was nothing more than a test weapon through out the war to learn more about force fields. Keep in mind, there is also all force fields for fighters in fs1. This is where i switch tune and just say in time of desperate need in the future, the developers and scientists can get the job done, development is speedy in the future, and production of a usable durable product is fast.

[Thaeris]

In thinking about this topic between the lulls, I think the best thing to do if writing fluff or plot points is to consider both the protracted development cycle as well as the rapid engineering and manufacturing cycle; the former does indeed occur during times of peace much as the latter does when at times of war. I feel FS and FS2 are games which probably really benefited from actual historical precedent when their fiction was formulated. Despite the presence of other species in the FS universe, there's nothing really alien about the plot - devestation through warfare, the struggle for technological supremacy, "sink the Bismark," etc.

[NGTM-1R]

The NTF does have small stocks of advanced fighter craft, you fly them in the SOC Loop 1 missions, so it seems more likely that issue wasn't common before the rebellion broke out and the production lines were somewhere else.

[RyuHimora]

A possible explanation of this appears on the Subach HL-7. It's an X-Ray laser (Xaser) that is in full deployment by the time FS2 starts, but it's stated in the tech room that they knew how to make such a weapon at the time of the T-V war - it was just too expensive to justify since Vasudans didn't have shields. So, that's at least one example of Terran scientists knowing how to make advanced tech but not needing it until the Shivans came around. The Banshee could have been another such weapon rushed to the frontlines in a prototype state, much like the Prometheus was (it's even stated to be a prototype in the FS1 Tech Room).

This also allows for some quick design of ships, such as the Ulysses. It's obviously a Vasudan frame, and the most likely explanation for the "joint" aspect of the project is that the Vasudans were working on a next-generation Space Superiority fighter to counter the Apollo at the time of the Shivan invasion, and then shared that project with the Terrans so they could put the Prometheus on it and fit a Terran cockpit.

So, it's possible that nothing was designed in "three weeks", and the time that the games takes place was just a coincidence of advanced scientific knowledge and good timing of the R&D of both sides trying to end a stalemate war.

Now, FS2 throws a curveball at this theory in the form of the Pegasus stealth fighter and the AWACS specifically designed to use in the nebula, but there are holes in that statement. The Charybdis-class ships are never stated to be cutting edge, newly-developed technology, simply the "latest" sensor package available. And fitting in with the good timing of R&D from FS1, the Pegasus fighter could have been in development for years, and Commander Vincey's line that it was "developed for allied operations in the nebula" could have just been an oversight of the script writers for the game. It could also be that the Pegasus was quickly redesigned in some unknown way to operate better in the nebula.

My point is, we don't have the whole story about how long ships have been in development, and the game designers probably didn't either. It's open to interpretation.

[Mars]

"Oh, sorry pal! I just realized that we've had a whole production line of these things going on, and I forgot to hit the 'produce'' button,  you know?  Glad I caught myself there or we might have lost Delta Serpentis too!"