As others dropped out or switched their focus to other methods of assisting boarding, only Aegis and Anvil remained designing ships.
While it didn't outright say it wasn't considering new ships, it did signal to the major players that this may have been a PR move, rather than a true bid. Rather than a call for a new ship, the military put out an all-call for ways to improve boarding. The request that ended up coming out of the military though was shocking to those involved. After a botched military excursion in April of 2918 where the United Empire of Earth Navy failed to board a Pirate Drake Caterpillar resulting in the loss of a full platoon of marines and the armored shuttles carrying them, every major spacecraft manufacturer, in anticipation of a bid for an improved boarding ship, began racing to be the recipient of that bid.
