Militech

Militech International Armaments is a megacorporation specializing in weapons manufacturing and private military contracting. Militech is one of the world's largest manufacturers of weapons and military vehicles, with facilities on every continent.

Militech provides equipment for numerous nations as well as both private and governmental organizations, especially the NUSA military and police forces. This equipment includes but is not limited to personal firearms, drones, tanks, aircraft, ships, and Assisted Combat Personal Armor.

An alternate branch of the corporation provides private military forces ostensibly for the purposes of defense, peacekeeping and nation-building missions, however these forces have been used to aid terrorist organizations and military coups in the past.

1997-2020
Founded initially in 1996 by Italian weapons designer Antonio Luccessi as Armatech-Luccessi International, Militech, as it's known today, began its journey with the 1998 trials for a new standardized US Infantry assault weapon.

Despite continued bankruptcy and ongoing recovery from the economic collapse of 1994, the US government decided the time had come to replace the M-16A2. The trials ultimately revealed three finalists: the FN SAP, a cheap but clunky and unreliable weapon, considered mainly due to powerful ties between the company Fabrique International and the US government, as well as its ammunition and parts compatibility with other members of the by then defunct NATO alliance; the Colt AR-17X, a good but expensive weapon; and a submission by newcomer Armatech-Luccessi International, a compact, reliable and moderately priced rifle.

USMC General Donald Lundee, a member of the Joint Chiefs overseeing the trials, was quickly sold on the Armatech system, assessing it as being the best combination of price, reliability, sturdiness and accuracy. Unfortunately, due to the collapse of the US economy and near collapse of the government, the national defense budget had not only tightened but also become insidiously coupled with industry influence that had crept into the political infrastructure and, in spite of General Lundee's protests, the contract for the new US Infantry weapon system went to FN.

In 2003, during the Second South American Conflict, US soldiers had been dying in the thousands equipped with unreliable SAP rifles terribly suited for the tropical climate. Lundee had observed this from afar however, having resigned from the Marine Corps shortly after the trials of 1998 to become the CEO of Armatech, at the request of Luccessi. As a former Pentagon chief, he possessed a profound understanding of the modern military-industrial complex, including the extent to which older military contracting corporations had become incredibly bureaucratically top heavy, often touting shoddy and overpriced products that sold through contractual inertia alone.

Lundee saw an opportunity for streamlined and efficient military manufacturing - producing high quality, modern equipment at competitive prices, with the capability to sell technology in the global market regardless of political convention. This pitch, coupled with Luccessi's brilliance in weapons design, allowed Armatech to acquire the capital needed to propel the company into a period of rapid expansion. Armatech's new world prominence and overt visibility came with a new name, Militech Arms International.

The corporation's first major success came in 2004. Given the disaster represented by the Central American Wars, the US finally scrapped the FN SAP and began new trials for a standardized infantry assault weapon. The resulting choice was the Militech Ronin Light Assault Rifle and, shortly afterwards, Militech also won the military side arm contract, directly resulting in sales of these weapons in vast quantities around the globe to nations and corporations alike. At the same time, Militech had begun development of heavy weapon systems, artillery, armored vehicles and aircraft. This greatly expanded catalogue, coupled with the brand's moderate prices and excellent quality, enabled the company to take on several key contracts, winning them over established defense manufacturers that had operated through and beyond the economic collapse.

By the mid 2010s, Militech was the largest defense contractor in several countries, including the U.S, as well as being utilized by a number of corporations, all of which allowed the company to absorb a number of its now failing competitors in order to incorporate their designers and resources.

However despite great success, Militech suffered from internal problems. While Donald Lundee was never doubted leadership or executive abilities, the board of directors did not see him in a favorable light. Lundee was power hungry and did not hide it, he was determined to make Militech the largest force on Earth. During this time Lundee would often put up the corporation and himself against the Japanese conglomerate Arasaka. This rose tensions between the corporations with many that feared a corporate war could break out, these decisions left the various members of the corporation in disagreement. Even Lundee's friend and ally Colonel Emile Lazarus did not favor this choice of direction.

By 2020, an ex-president of Militech Elizabeth Kress became the president of the United States benefiting the corporation. CEO Donald Lundee became paranoid of those who opposed him, while not having complete control of the company many were loyal to him leading to much internal conflict.

Fourth Corporate War - 2023
In 2021, during the escalation of conflict between rival aquacorps CINO and OTEC, Militech's defense forces were contracted as supplementary support for OTEC's security forces, as well as to provide advisors, weapons and supplies. Initially, Militech's ambitions in this conflict were not to directly engage in combat with Arasaka, but to advertise and demonstrate the efficacy of their defense services in the world market. However to Donald Lundee it was a matter of pride to defeat the Japanese, and Saburo Arasaka. By the end of 2021, both OTEC and CINO were engaged in naval warfare, both above and below the surface, as Arasaka and Militech moved into position and conducted early covert operations.

Lundee considered Militech to be at war, and being a soldier for much of his life, could only view Militech's victory as Arasaka's utter defeat. The "Ocean War" between CINO and OTEC officially ended in February of 2022 with a peace accord signed on the 27th of that month. Only 7 days later on March 6th, Arasaka conducted a live trial of the newly completed Soulkiller 2.5, capturing the engram of a Militech executive, the interrogation of whom led to an Arasaka strike on Militech's Night City offices.

During the fall of 2022, following worldwide conflict and warring overspill from the corporate conflict, governments began reigning in the two megacorporations. Southern California and Texas in the U.S consequently opted to nationalize Arasaka and Militech facilities, with the EEC threatening to follow suit if tensions failed to diminish. Shortly after, the war reached a turning point when Arasaka forces invaded a Militech showroom in Italy, causing the EEC to make good on their promise, seizing assets owned by both corporations throughout Europe. Japan followed the EEC, nationalizing Arasaka assets within its borders and its surrounding territories.

On August 20th, 2023, a Militech strike team, including infamous characters Johnny Silverhand, Rogue, Spider Murphy, and Shaitan, entered the Arasaka Towers from its rooftop and deployed a small nuclear weapon within Saburo's office. The violent blast resulted in the complete destruction of the tower, with ejected debris precipitating widespread destruction to the surrounding city. 12,000 people were killed within Corporate Center, with half a million people dying as a direct result of the weapon's detonation, with a further quarter million dying in the hours and days after.

2024 - 2045
The New United States, led by President Elizabeth Kress declared martial law in the parts of the country still under their control. She blamed Arasaka for the mini nuke detonated in Night City, but rumors persisted that Militech had funded the strike team and supplied them with the portable nuclear device. Kress despite the public demands to hold Militech responsible, never addressed the concerns. Instead she nationalized Militech, and used them to strengthen their federal rule. Some of the most prominent and exonerated Militech officials were offered lucrative positions in the re-formed NUS Department of Defense. This didn't go over well with Militech's hotheaded and proud CEO, Donald Lundee.

Even as the Megacorp labored under control from Washington, D.C. as a nationalized Corporate asset, Militech secretly was rebuilding back to its former role as a combination of arms manufacturer and mercenary army. Despite heavy wartime losses, Militech remained one of world's largest producer and seller of all manner of military weapons. As well as a major military supplier to what was the re-uniting New United States, as well as being it's largest customer. Donald Lundee remained in power and one of the most influential people on the Board of Directors. However he didn't own enough stock to control the Corporation, his force of personality, allies, and success record had kept him on top despite internal struggles.

Over the years, Lundee set himself and Militech up against Arasaka so often and for so long that he became personally involved, making it a matter of pride to defeat the Japanese and their attempt to take over the global arms market, for he had also made it his goal to do so. Due to his arrogance and aggressive demeanor, Lundee had made more enemies than friends. That very same temper and arrogance that resulted in a dogged determination to see the war through to the bitter end, only brought to heel by President Kress' reactivation of his commission, and her command to cease hostilities.

2077
In 2077, Militech still maintained the title of one of the largest manufacturers of weapons and military vehicles in the world. They've worked closely with American military and police agencies for decades, providing high-grade weaponry and training. After nationalization of Militech, the NUSA used its assets to strengthen the collapsing power of the country. The corporation had since regained some of its independence, and several of its board members still held high-ranking offices in the Ministry of Defense. Due to the efforts of ex-Militech employees, the NUSA was responsible for over 60% of the corporation's contracts.

During this time Militech produced and released the Corporate Wars: The Musical movie which saw mixed reviews with many praising the film for its story and musical numbers. Others criticized movie for its melodramatic plot and propaganda.

In Night City, Militech was also considered the second biggest and best corporation to work for, in part due to giving its employees up to 50% discounts on all Militech weapons.

President Rosalind Myers announced that she'd be seeking another term as president, though many protested her running again. She was the previous CEO of the Militech Corporation, and with many members of the board being higher ups in the Pentagon, the NUSA and Militech interests and assets were largely one and the same. Many people wished to oppose Militech's control over the NUSA. Washington, D.C. serves as Militech's largest consumer, and should the capital ever run out of money, the corporation would risk losing everything. Militech announced plans to construct a new colony on Mars, and began selling residential modules.

Main Products
Militech's a weapons manufacturer, Militech products are sold in varying volumes to eighty-two countries and over 250 corporations, not to mention millions upon millions of individuals, groups, gangs and small companies around the world.

Small Arms
The Militech products that are most visible to the man on the street are its small arms. Militech sells more pistols, rifles and sub-machine guns than any other single manufacturer in the world. Bulk shipments are bought by national and corporate armies, police departments, militias, security groups and so on. Individual weapons are sold over the counter by hundreds of thousands of dealers. Militech's high sales are due in part to a hard won reputation for producing a tough, reliable and accurate products at a reasonable price. On top of that, sizable discounts are available to bulk purchasers. The Militech Ronin is still the top selling assault rifle in the world, several years after its release. Part of this is due to the U.S. Army contract, but much of it is due to strong private sales.

Another factor is the huge selection available. Among Militech's small arms products are small, derringer type weapons, special load revolvers, hundreds of the best pistol, rifle and sub-machinegun models in the world, sporting arms, special purpose weapons such as long range sniping rifles, squad automatic weapons, full size machine guns, and shotguns. Each model has options. This means that any small arms needs you may have can be filled by one company. This is an advantage to bulk contractors, like armies and corporations, who would prefer to have to deal with only one maintenance and resupply contract.

Heavy Weapons
There are four main departments of heavy weapons manufacture: Airborne Delivery Systems, Non-Projectile Ordinance, Artillery and Heavy Projectile Systems and Light Projectile Systems. Within the company, these departments are known by their initials, ADS, NPO, AHPS and LPS. Airborne delivery specializes in missiles and bombs. They design and manufacture Militech's extensive line of air to air, surface to air and surface to surface missiles, also unguided rockets, and general and special purpose bombs of several varieties. Non-Projectile Ordinance is the department responsible for research, development and manufacture of things like land-mines, grenades, satchel charges, demolitions packages, and specialized explosives such as liquids, gels, plastiques, micro-caps and det-cords. This department also produces the explosives used by Airborne Delivery in their warheads. Artillery is just what it says. They design and produce both the guns themselves and the shells that they fire, again using Non-Projectile Ordinance's explosives. Artillery's products include everything from super-long range weapons to light mortars, grenade launchers, and man-portable antiarmor rockets. They also make the heavy guns that mount on top of tanks, armored cars, and some armored personnel carrier chassis. Light Projectile Weapons makes such things as twenty and thirty millimeter cannons, vulcan-type multi-barrel machine guns, and other heavy machine guns. Many of these weapons find their way atop armored vehicles with Artillery's products, or into aircraft.

Vehicles
Although many components of Militech's vehicles are subcontracted, their catalog includes light wheeled vehicles, armored personnel carriers, armored cars, tanks, armored hovercraft, small boats and sub-marines, large ships, vectored thrust aircraft, and true jet aircraft. Many of these products are manufactured under the name of subsidiary firms, but it usually doesn't take much searching to find the "A Militech Company" caption somewhere near their logo. Many of these companies were former competitors that Militech hammered into financial oblivion and bought during its period of rapid expansion in the early 2010s.

Militech branded vehicles are sold mostly to nations and corporations. There are, however, a few extremely wealthy individuals out there whose private security troops have some Militech armored cars or vectored-thrust attack craft at their disposal.

Accessories
Militech markets a variety of military and paramilitary accessories, and this group of products accounts for much of the corporation's sales to private individuals. Many products in the diverse accessory line are appealing to people who have no need for firepower and no interest in military items also sell in large numbers to the same people and organizations who purchase weapons systems. The wide demographic appeal of the accessories makes them second only in small arms in terms of sales volume for Militech.

Naturally, there are also thousands of other items in the Militech accessory catalogue, including body armor, clothing, field rations, knives, weapons accessories, vehicular accessories, books and information disks, security equipment, exotic melee and ranged weapons, survival equipment and so on. These items are sold at showrooms, and available through mail order from catalogs available on hyperstack disk or in print.

Special Projects
Militech has highly secretive research and development facilities where work on potentially profitable new weapons and accessory systems is carried out. These facilities are also the site of what are known within the corporation as Special Projects. The Special Projects Department is the group responsible for the development of those ideas considered too exotic, sensitive, potentially dangerous, or PR. damaging for regular development channels. All security around Special Projects people and development sites is fearsome, with only the most trusted and experienced of troops and security agents being used. The threat of extraction or corporate espionage against the Special Projects Department is so high that Militech has been known to order the assassination of some of its own lower executives who have been accidentally exposed to sensitive SPD data.

The Special Projects Department's programs had been rumored to include the genetic and biochemical alteration of human beings and animals to produce more durable battlefield soldiers and guard animals, second generation combat drugs that can provide the desired effects without burning out the soldier or producing messy addictions, short-term biological agents that can sterilize a large area and then revert to harmless states within hours or minutes, refined ballistic body armors that can stop high energy projectiles and then dissipate the kinetic energy so that the wearer doesn't suffer the crushing impact of a non-penetrating bullet; tiny, cybernetically controlled assassination robots, and satellite and portable battlefield model high energy beam weapons for anti-ship and armor use.

Police Services
Militech contracts police services to cities around the world. Militech's police services department is smaller than that of its rival, Arasaka, however it is much more common in the United States than Arasaka's police group. Although Arasaka does contract police services in several U.S. cities, because of the competition Militech has be unable to contract any of it's services in Japan and other areas in Asia and Europe. Militech has attempted to become more accessible to these nations, however it has been made increasingly difficult.

Mercenary Troops
Militech maintains a large standing army by most corporate standards and hires its troops out as a service to their corporations, nations and wealthy individuals. Militech's mercenaries are neither as specialized as Arasaka's primarily security-oriented troops nor as diverse as the Lazarus Group's variety of multi-purpose soldiers and agents. Except in special situations, Militech hires out only all-purpose, line soldiers. They are competent troops, trained for a variety of special situations, including airborne, amphibious and all-terrain operations, but they are not special forces soldiers, and they lack the experience necessary for most special ops or super-specialized missions. Militech has no shortage of specialized troops, but it retains them for its own use. Militech's soldiers are generally contracted out to corporations or nations for basic infantry reinforcement in urban or field situations. Force sizes range from a one hundred man minimum to a ten thousand man maximum, depending on availability. Anyone requiring specialized troops or troops in greater or lesser numbers than those offered by Militech is referred to the Lazarus group.

Militech has been known to let other companies or nations use its special ops troops, but this typically happens only when the corporation has something other than contract money to gain from the operation. For instance, Militech would lease special ops troops to a smaller company who wanted to attempt an espionage mission, but only if that mission would damage a Militech competitor or lead to an increase in business for one of Militech's departments. Alternatively, Militech has been known to let small companies use its special ops troops to steal secrets that it has wanted for itself. The corporation has then taken over the smaller company and absorbed all its assets and data. This method has the advantage of divorcing the corporation one step from any blame for the operation, but it is usually only employed when Militech was already planning a buyout of the smaller company.

Public Relations
The Militech Corporation has struggled with public relations since it's inception as a Megacorporation. Militech is often seen as a reliable corporation for supplies and weapons alike, however the corporation itself is seen as a danger especially within the NUSA. Over the decades the corporation has had it's control over the NUSA and uses much of it's resources and capital to benefit themselves for expansion. However the board of directors have attempted to change this image of the corporation by supplying the police and army with much needed defensive arsenal, as well as contracting it's forces to stabilize and secure the NUSA from the threat of nomad clans. Militech has also been responsible for sponsoring shows and providing cyberware or computer components to people who require them. At the same time Militech uses it's influence to bring a negative agenda and propaganda towards foreign influences, mainly Asian or European influences.

Enemies & Allies
In 2020, Lundee's envy of the Arasaka chief and the Arasaka Corporation in general, was widely known. Many experts expected the regular scraps between Militech and Arasaka to explode into full scale war some-time before 2030. This prediction was soon seen in the Fourth Corporate War.

Militech's attempts to monopolize the arms industry have made it the natural enemy of many other arms companies, as well as that of several larger corporations that have weapons manufacturing subsidiaries. Among the more vociferous and troublesome of Militech's weapons industry enemies were independents Sternmeyer Waffenfabrik SA and Federated Arms. Larger corporations that Militech had tensions with were Schumann-Stein and IEC conglomerates.

During the 2010s, Militech's closest corporate ally was the Lazarus Group. In addition, Colonel Emile Lazarus and General Lundee knew each other from their days in the military and are personal friends. However, Col. Lazarus disagreed with his friend's antagonistic views of Arasaka, and disliked the shift in Lundee's thinking, away from the pursuit of military excellence, and toward the fulfillment of personal power goals.

Militech had managed to irritate several national governments around the world, mostly because it supplies their enemies, but none of those small countries have the power to cause Militech much trouble beyond their borders. Militech's closest national ally is the NUSA. As far as international influence goes that's strictly a zero, since, following the Collapse, the phrase "American International Power" is widely considered oxymoronic.

Controversies
Militech is often accused of taking part in ethically shady or blatantly illegal black ops, such as hiring out their private military to support revolutions, military coups, assassinations, terrorist attacks, and ethnic cleansings. The company was also suspected of planting and detonating the nuclear bomb in Arasaka's Night City headquarters in 2023, though no evidence has ever validated those claims.

In 2077, Militech has been caught massacring innocent citizens of the NUSA. 75% of the victims of the massacres had been identified as Japanese. Along with much evidence towards the corporation, many have suspected Militech to be against foreign influence in the country. For decades the Presidents of the NUSA have been previous higher ups or even CEO of the Megacorporation which has led to Militech gaining much support from the government. Citizens of the NUSA have fought against the hold Militech has had on the country, however no success has been seen.

Militech has also been shown to disregard veterans of their corp military after they retire, these veterans were often discovered without proper medication or were even massacred by Militech themselves. These massacres had also lend to a poor relationship with the various nomads within the NUSA.

Resources & Capital
Militech is one of the Big-Ten corporations in the world—number six to be exact. The corporation's diverse line of products, its wide ranging subsidiaries, and the huge 2020 market for weapons and military accessories all contribute to its success. Analysts have projected continued growth for Militech over the next several years, and it is no secret that the board of directors is eyeing a spot in the top five. That would put Militech in the company of other megacorps as EBM, Arasaka, International Electric and so on.

Corporate Value
In 2020, Militech's total value in assets and holdings was €$432 billion, putting it only €$50 billion behind number one, Euro Business Machines, and €$43 billion behind the corporation's main competitor, Arasaka. Militech's €$432 billion worth was divided among a variety of assets and holdings. Unlike some other large corporations, Militech has no bank attached to it, and couldn't count outstanding loans and interest toward its assets. Yet, it does have prodigious annual sales, and the profit value of those contracts and sales are considered part of the corporation's worth. After Militech was nationalized by the NUSA, made possible from ex-employee Elizabeth Kress, the corporation shared it's monetary value with the country. This raised Militech's assets and holdings to €$1.2 trillion.

Action Taken
Militech is a public corporation with 430 million shares of common stock on the world market. Donald Lundee had claimed ownership of 8%. Roland Yee and the board of directors lay claim to another 22%. Considering these numbers, it seemed that there is a controlling amount of Militech stock that could become the target of a lever-aged group acquisition. Several large corporations will form a temporary alliance to perpetrate a leveraged buyout and hostile take-over of a mutual enemy. The unlucky target corporation will then see its assets broken up and divided among the raiders. Frequently, fighting breaks out among the "allied" corporations over who gets to absorb certain desirable parts of the target corporation, but its usually happens too late for the breakdown to be of any use to the victim.

Material Resources
This is Militech's big advantage over many of its competitors. As it is an arms manufacturer, its corporate army is better equipped than most others, with a high volume of state of the art weaponry, vehicles and accessories. This has helped Militech to hold its own militarily against its well armed nemesis, Arasaka.

Human Resources
Militech and its subsidiaries employee about 680,000 people worldwide. Of these, 300,000 work directly under the Militech name, and 100,000 of those are corporate troops. Of Militech's 100,000 troops, a maximum of 80% may be used for contract work at any given time, and 20% are retained full time for corporate defense. Typically, only 50% are hired out at any one time. 90%of the troops are standard guards, line soldiers and specialists (pilots, artillery gunners, etc.), 10% are special ops troops, solos and agents who are never subcontracted out, but retained for Militech's personal use.

Subsidiaries
The Militech International Armaments Corporation core companies are Militech Technologies (the main weapons arm), Militech Military Contracting (mercenaries), and Militech International (holding). These represent the greatest share of Militech's sales and business and are the branches that own and manage the network of smaller subsidiary companies.

Just a few Militech subsidiaries include: Militech Technologies, Militech Military Contracting, Militech International, Militech America, Militech EEC, Militech Asia, Militech Personnel Services, Militech Police Services, Militech Heavy Industries, Militech Computers Inc., Militech Avionics Inc., Combat Fashion Inc., Militech Showrooms Inc., Militech International Shipping, Militech Maritime Construction Inc (shipyards), Militech Cybernetics International, Militech Aerospace Inc., Allisson Field Artillery Systems, Kunoshita Chipware, Kwikee Stop (convenience stores), Chouinard Electrodyne International, Klemperer Photo-Optical Systems, and Speedy Eddy's Pizza Restaurants.

Regional Offices
Militech regional offices can range in size from towers comparable to their Rosslyn headquarters to smaller one room offices staffed by a signal representative. Most major cities have a fair sized Militech office building for the handling of local distribution, management and contract sales, and at least one or two showrooms for retail sales. Regional offices handle all local bulk arms contracts, mercenary contracting, distribution, and other paperwork. Regional offices also contain the headquarters for the local ranking Militech Officer. This individual, with his other staff, is responsible for overseeing and coordinating all local military endeavors and black operations. They answer directly to the district operations coordinator back in Rosslyn. Major Militech regional offices can be found in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Night City, Mexico City, Rio De Janiero, Bogota, Tokyo, Beijing, London, Berlin, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Cairo and Nairobi. Smaller offices can be located worldwide as well as showrooms containing their products.

Virginia Headquarters
Across the Potomac from Washington D.C., located just a few hundred meters from the HQ of the Lazarus Group, standing eighty-two stories tall and taking up an entire city block the Militech Tower is the centre of US and global operations for the arms manufacturing megacorporation.

The Tower's architecture can be best described as unimaginative: a square tower that goes straight up for eighty-two stories with the only piece of stylistic design being the all-around cantilever on the ground floor, other than that concrete columns rise from the ground to support the edge of the fourth floor where the cantilever begins with a forty foot high glass wall with steel supporting members standing behind the columns and rings the bottom three stories around the base of the tower. Unlike the Lazarus or Arasaka buildings Militech does not have a concourse or plaza surrounding its headquarters with it instead connecting directly to the rather large side walk that wraps around the whole building.

As for the interior the first three floors are open to the public and designed as airy galleries with the ground floor having large green areas filled with exotic plants and criss-crossed with small ponds and streams with small all designed to hide the extensive security systems dotted through the ground floor. The second floor is a large showroom where Militech products are displayed and has plenty of helpful sales agents for potential customers. Finally the third floor contains and open air cafeteria and restaurant as well as a small military technology museum and offices for recruiting and sales staff.

Beyond the public spaces the Tower also houses an infirmary in an underground area, auditoriums, R&D facilities, firing range, conference centres, communication hubs, machine shop/fabrication center, offices, short stay rooms, luxury suites, and no less that four full-scale world situation/war rooms which the company uses not so much for running wars, as for keeping tabs on other people's wars for marketing and research reasons.

Showrooms
When your average citizen thinks of Militech, the showroom is what he or she is most likely to recall. Everyone who lives in or near a major city has been in, or at least seen, a Militech showroom. Located in corporate areas or commercial malls, showrooms are how Militech sells its products to the general population. Depending on the location and typical clientele the showrooms can range from glitzy, rock pumping, teen oriented affairs offering polymer one shots and personal accessories and defense systems to quiet, elegant, civilized complexes where wealthy executives and high class solos receive personal demonstrations of the most up to date and exclusive systems. These are extremes, however, and the typical downtown showroom is designed to cater to all prospective clients, offering a little of each world to shoppers.

Although some showrooms, such as the suburban mall variety, are small, and offer only small arms and personal accessories, most of the downtown ones are quite large, occupying several rooms, and sometimes multiple stories in their host buildings. They will have a courteous sales staff trained in the use of the products they sell, and, of course, a contingent of soldiers and guards on hand to fill the multiple roles of security and demonstration. On hand will be a stock of the latest models of those Militech weapons and accessories which are legal for sale to the public or to solos with special permits. For executives and representatives of police departments and other potential large-scale clients there will be demo tapes and chips of military and paramilitary grade weapons.

Sometimes there will be tanks, AVs, or other vehicles parked on the showroom floor like in an auto dealership. Although the vehicles are there for display purposes they are always combat ready, and can be brought into service within minutes. The Night City downtown showroom currently has two of the brand new, evil-looking AVX Viper assault aerodynes on display. These have not only attracted representatives of several local corporations for a look, but many casual shoppers have peeked in to get a gander at the exotic looking craft and left with some item for their home or personal defense collection. Shoppers can try their hand on an AVX simulator, and there are AVX T-shirts and lollipops for the kiddies. There is always a crowd at the large showrooms. All shoppers should be advised, however, that shoplifters will be prosecuted, if they live long enough to make it to court.

Besides functioning as retail outlets, showrooms also serve as recruiting stations, and any promising youngster or solo who wants to try his or her hand with the Militech Corporate forces is welcome to come on down for a personal interview, no appointment necessary.

Small arms Research and Development
Located near the town of Laconia, New Hampshire, is the Small arms R&D program where Militech tests all of its small arms models as well those of their competition. The site of the old Armatech offices the six buildings and two firing ranges that make up the facility are for designing and testing only, with only one building housing the machine shops and fabrication areas needed for creating prototypes and test models.

The Small Arms facility is not designed for full scale production, only design and testing. One building contains machine shops and fabrication areas, but they are sufficient only for producing prototypes and test models. Once a product has been approved for mass production and ordered by Militech or a corporate client the design specs are sent to the Militech small arms factories in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania or Albstadt, Germany.

Research and Development
Militech's primary research facility is located near Norfolk, Virginia, compared to the more specialised locations across the globe the general R&D facility in Virginia serves as a catch-all for those programs that don't fit in with any of the specific departments, but that are not heavy enough to fall under the jurisdiction of the Special Projects Department. This site itself has two large scale fabrication facilities and warehouses for the construction and storage of large scale projects that would otherwise tax the capabilities of the regional offices. The R&D department also makes up a large part of the industrial park on the outskirts of Norfolk containing large scale manufacturing areas, warehouses, offices and extensive security.

Weapons Proving Grounds
Located deep in the heart of New Mexico, south of route 42 and wedged between highways 54 and 285 is Militech's Proving Grounds, 5000 square kilometres of scrub and desert where the corporation tests its new weapons and equipment. Known within the company as "The Garden" the site itself occupies a rectangular area approximately 50 kilometres wide and 100 kilometres long and encompasses several types of terrain from hills to canyons and included facilities such as an airfield, administration building, warehouses, fabrication areas, barracks, executive residences, corporate village and research labs. With millions of eurodollars worth of equipment tested at the Proving Grounds security is extremely extensive will remote sensor and counter-intrusion systems littered throughout the grounds, a constantly monitored and hot-wired perimeter fence and even Militech DIS-5 satellites in geosynchronous orbit constantly monitoring the site.

Special Projects Department
Three kilometres from the Proving Grounds corporate village is solitary, squat building with tinted windows and a featureless grey paint job, this is the location of the Special Projects Department where Militech's most advanced research takes place. Extending ten stories below ground the SPD is bristling with defence systems and houses biomedical, computer and chemistry labs, a sophisticated fabrication area, research surgery O.R.s, testing areas, and living facilities for up to 200 personnel.

Militech Camps & Training Facilities
Militech maintains a standing army of over 100,000 troops. Usually, 40-50,000 of these are on lease to corporations or governments around the world. The remainder either live on their own, at Militech postings, or they live at one of Militech's combination training camp/troop barrack facilities. Militech has the provisions to barrack about 50% of its troops at any given time. If less than 40,000 troops are out on contract at any time, the overflow live on call. Militech has seven large camps; each can support about 7,000 troops. The camps are located around the world, each in an area which offers unique training opportunities. The artillery/armor/flight training is at Camp Patton, Texas. Swamp/jungle training is at Camp Jackson, in southern Florida. Mountain/snow training is at Camp Whitmore, in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. Underwater/maritime training is at Concord Station, Connecticut, near the Militech Shipyards. Special forces/special-ops training is at the highly secret Camp Raney, Georgia. In addition, there are Militech Camps in England and Japan, giving access to the European and Asian theaters. All camps do basic infantry training and recruitment and have tight security. Facilities at the Militech camps always include an airfield, barracks, recreation areas, training areas and a large complement of artillery, armor and aircraft.

Manufacturing Facilities
Militech and its subsidiaries have manufacturing plants in several countries. A few of the more important ones are the Aircraft shops in San Diego, California, the Shipyards in New London, Connecticut, the Vehicle Factories in San Jose, California, the Cyberware/ Computer/Accessory plant in Night City, the Ordinance plants in Manila, New Philippines and Amsterdam, Holland, and the small arms factories in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Albstadt, Germany.