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It's described as "Like a mobile space station, in a sense." Here's the rest of what Dr. Murad had to say, emphasis on the last line of the first paragraph, if you'd simply exhaust or pay attention to her dialogue... And I'll just repost those Sarna links too...
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Argo_(Individual_Argo-class_DropShip)
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Argo_(DropShip_class) (look specifically where it says when the game is released it will more than likely be declared canon, and even then since we're only talking about it in a one off sense, we only have the game's description to go off of)
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Behemoth_(DropShip_class) (and here's precedence for DropShips that can't land on planets)
I never said they "lacked knowledge." I said they lacked the industrial base. Even if the Aurigan Coalition had facilities to build 'Mechs, they are in the possession of the Espinosa Directorate at the start of the campaign, as, again, the Arano Restoration only has three backwater planets under their control at the time when they sell the Griffins to the Mercs. Go play HOIV as someone like one of the Chinese puppets of Japan and try to build a military infrastructure. Even if you could supply a basic army, it would be impossible to build up an army of tanks able to take on China, Japan, or the USSR because:
A) You would need someone to sell you the license
B) You need to sacrifice your other military infrastructure to build a paltry amount of tanks
C) No one will just *give* you tanks because you are not at war, they have no desire for some upstart nation to possess a large or semi-modern military arsenal, or they simply prop up the regime because it is supposed to be a distraction for a hostile regime, not a legitimate government.
It's ludicrous to to think a third- or fourth- rate regional power would be able to devote massive amounts to creating a modern army, moreso when that power has had almost all of its industry occupied. Look at Sweden, your example, at WWII. All of its armor designs are licensed models of old and outdated foreign tanks, and they only produced a paltry amount, 106, of the most modern Czech designs at the time. Today, if the Swedish army came into possession of tons of American or Russian tanks, they wouldn't have the personnel or the means to maintain and crew them, even if they had their own designs.
Look at another nation, the Netherlands, regarded as one of the richer countries in Europe today and at the time, had absolutely no industry, or inclination, to spare for the construction of tanks.
Then we have Poland, a true regional power with a large arms industry rivalling that of the Czechs. Even they only produced outdated tankettes no match for actual tanks, instead producing more useful rifles or anti-tank guns or aircraft etc (funny thing the Czechs, they also had a large arms industry but then suddenly couldnt produce anymore when their entire country was occupied).
And finally we have the Soviets, one of the two preeminent powers at the end of the war. They were entirely able to produce their own tanks and their own designs, and they captured swaths of German tanks. They made no effort to maintain these tanks though, because they considered them to be too expensive for their benefits, mechanically unreliable, and incompatible in general with the Soviet doctrine. They would use them, if they worked, but only until they broke, whereupon they were abandoned or used for target practice (we use UrbanMechs as target practice in the campaign, what a coincidence). They definitely had the *means* to maintain the captured tanks (something the Arano Restoration does not since its only three backwaters at the start of a campaign), it was simply more trouble than it was worth and the resources put to better use maintaining their own designs or building more.
The Directorate is stated as being able to produce its own 'Mechs, but it is also stated they field more than their industrial base could support, this is due to them recieving arms shipments from other IS members (huh how or why would IS states support a backwater with 'Mechs if they're desperate for 'Mechs themselves?). This leads one to believe they retooled their industry to maintain what they recieve rather than try to create their own, since they have a generous benefactor they do not need native industry. This mirrors post-war countries in Europe, recieving arms from either the Soviets or the Americans.
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