The second most produced 'Mech in the Inner Sphere, the Stinger was designed as a scout and reconnaissance 'Mech. The Stinger has filled a variety of roles including training 'Mech, a testament to the design's usefulness. When the Taurians began looking to revamp their existing scout 'Mechs, they turned to the venerable Stinger. They were already involved with the Capellans in producing the new Wasp 3L, but they desired to go it alone on this one. We believe that this may be due to a rift forming in their alliance with the Capellans and Magistracy. The Capellans have thus far ignored the Taurians' new venture.
         The Taurian engineers encountered technical difficulties from the outset in producing the armor needed for this configuration. Though they had the technical know-how to produce ferro-fibrous armor, they lacked the facilities. Enter the Word of Blake.
         Following up their successful negotiations with the Taurians' Archer project, the Blakists offered to give the Taurians the plans and material to build a plant dedicated to producing ferro-fibrous armor and endo steel. It is rumored that in return, they asked for an unspecified number of Stingers and Wasps as payment. The new production facility was constructed and placed on New Vandenberg.

         The Stinger had not seen many changes since its commission in 2479-something that would not be true for the Taurians' new variant. The first change made was a new head assembly that incorporated a full cockpit ejection system. This was done to remove a major drawback, as the cockpit assembly was too small for most pilots. The original STG-3R used a single energy weapon backed by machine guns. The Taurians decided to give the Stinger firepower that would live up to its name. Upgrading the medium laser with a new Diverse Optics extended-range model produced on Sterope, two new rocket launcher 15 packs were installed. Armored with Taurian developed ferro-fibrous armor, the Stinger now carried a half-ton more protection along with increased firepower. The Stinger retained its standard engine for survivability and standard internal structure. This configuration allowed the Taurians to upgrade most of their existing Stingers in a matter of months.

         The only known variant that has been identified is being produced on Detroit and Sian for the Magistracy and Capellans. The Stinger STG-6L will incorporate the new Stealth Armor, yet use two standard medium lasers. The most important upgrade of the STG-6L is its power plant. Using the Pitban 240, this variant will be able to reach speeds of 130 kph. The jump jets were dropped to allow the maximum use of armor protection.

         The Taurian forces received shipments of new Stingers early in 3067. Deployment would have been earlier had it not been for the Blakists' payments being made. Our operatives were unable to obtain the numbers but they do know that a large amount was shipped. We were able to discover that some of the shipments were sent to Terra and the Circinus Federation.