The Federated Commonwealth quickly took the lead in battle armor research and development in the 3050s, primarily by leaning upon the Federated Suns military-industrial complex. The NAIS quickly designed a suit that became something of a template for all conventional Inner Sphere-produced BattleArmor since. The NAIS wasn't the only R&D concern within the Federated Suns to delve into the realm of BattleArmor, just the most famous and successful. The Hahm-Heinz Design Bureau had a long relationship with GM on Salem and Talcott, which got them in on the "ground floor" when the AFFC requested a BattleArmor design for its troops.
         This took H-H into an entirely new realm of design, one that proved more difficult than it had first appeared. H-H did not even submit a design during that initial request for proposals, but neither did its engineers give up on the problem. They spent the next decade pondering the problems and studying the other designs put into the field, making slow but deliberate progress.

         In 3062 they approached the AFFC with the design specifications and two prototypes for cutting-edge assault-class BattleArmor. The Grenadier was born when designers tried to see just how many weapons they could mount on a battlesuit and still maintain acceptable mobility. Soon, however, it became a heavy support unit, able to provide heavy covering fire for other advancing forces and to stand against BattleMechs; survivability was further increased significantly by the addition of stealth capabilities. From the beginning, the Grenadier's primary weapon system was the SRM. Based upon recommendations from the field, however, the Grenadier design was revised to add the ability to better customize the suit's weapons loadout in the field. The only significant drawback to the Grenadier was that it could not be carried by OmniMechs but instead had to rely on APCs or other transports for battlefield deployment. Considering the suit's heavy weapons load, however, the Grenadier's designers considered that a secondary concern.

         Nevertheless, the AFFC initially rejected the Grenadier. It wasn't until the heart of the Civil War that the design resurfaced and was revisited. Officers on both sides of the war recognized the capabilities of the design and rushed it into production. It proved its capabilities in that war and in the Jihad that followed, and has been in production ever since. Organized squads of Federated Suns Mercenary Corps Grenadiers marching on a position, firing salvo after salvo of missiles on the way, is often the stuff of a defender's nightmares.