The Cavalier is the result of Victor Kurita-Steiner-Davion's "redesign for Davion pride" project, which also led to the redesign of traditional Davion 'Mechs such as the Enforcer and JagerMech. Davion designers created hundreds of designs and several dozen prototypes as they balanced aesthetics and the suit's combat worthiness.
         In the final design, armor plating was shifted around the suit so that leg armor was enhanced by enlarged plating over the calves and thighs, but the suit's arms and hands lost significant armor protection. Some within the AFFC expressed the opinion that these aesthetically driven changes had compromised the armor's most important function: protecting the wearer from harm. Despite this concern, the officers assigned to the project concluded that the benefits balanced the drawbacks and approved the design for mass production.

         The Cavalier is basically similar to the Draconis Combine's Raiden suit. Although both suits are cosmetically unique, their performance capabilities are nearly identical to the capabilities of standard Genasi Inner Sphere BattleArmor. The Cavalier's exposed elbow and hand joints make the suit more vulnerable to shrapnel though they also provide the wearer with increased levels of manual dexterity compared to that afforded by the standard Genasi BattleArmor. Because of this, those who wear a Cavalier tend to swear by them and refuse to ever use the "clumsy" Genasi.

         The "redesign for Davion pride" program met the goal of creating a unique and effective BattleArmor suit for the (then) Federated Commonwealth forces and entered mass production at numerous factories. The suit deployed throughout Davion space during the FedCom Civil War, fighting on both sides of the conflict. The Lyrans "cleansed" the tainted design from their roles after the war, but construction continued to expand on the Davion side of the border. During the Jihad and beyond the Cavalier continued to be the primary suit used in that region of space and is now a standard throughout the Federated Reaches and the Federated Suns Mercenary Corps.