Stellar Defense produced the latest version of this weapon system in 2317 after acquiring a number of small arms manufacturers in a bid to make further inroads into the defense market. Their end goal would be to be able to arm an entire military top to bottom, and on the way there they ended up with a rifle that consolidated a number of features from conventional rifles available at the time.

By 2317 the American Union had started to use handheld energy weapons in greater and greater numbers so to many in Stellar Defense, trying to produce a new conventional rifle seemed like it would be a bad idea. However, with long term goals in mind, Stellar would acquire a number of small arms manufacturers and start producing its own series of weapons using the best of what was generally available. The S-17 series was an easy to use rifle designed to be fairly idiot proof and cheap to produce. It ended up not being especially amazing at anything, but was good enough mix on weight, price, and performance to find some success with civilians and much success among less-reputable markets. Stellar had the goal of selling to anyone to leverage economies of scale with the weapon system, and making the weapon so easy to get ahold of that it would become a common sight in any market.

In 2320, the S-17’s moment came. The New Years Revolution on Hawking would give the XM132 Laser Rifle a bad name among soldiers when its complicated usage caused many soldiers to not even be able to fire a shot before being subdued by opposing forces. Stellar already growing political leverage within the Union, and now with Magnetic Assembly equipment no longer available to Union forces, Stellar was positioned to become the dominant provider for American Union weapons. They quickly suggested a much more mature version of the S-17, complete with various kits allowing it to be converted to a bullpup, or to fire any number of different ammunition types.

By mid 2320 the XM132 Laser Rifle Program was dead, and tens of thousands of new S-17 rifles were flying off assembly lines and into the hands of every man, woman, and child within the American Union.

The S-17’s base mechanisms are very familiar to anyone who has operated a rifle before. It feeds ammunition in from the bottom, and ejects spent casings forwards through a port ontop of the barrel. There is a charging handle on the left side though there are conversion kits to move it to the right. Generally there is not a lot special about the base model of the gun, with the whole thing weighing in at about 3.2kg fully loaded. The gun is designed to be extremely easy to operate, down to the bolt automatically locking in place when there is no new ammo to feed, and automatically sliding back down to feed a bullet once fresh ammunition is loaded so that an operator will never have to actually operate the charging handle. The gun also has a basic safety and fires in three round bursts.

Disassembly is also designed to be straight forward, a pin is removed from the rear of the gun, and then the upper plastic shell can be removed as one piece, followed by the mechanisms inside being lifted out.

The modern S-17 comes in a wide range of formats, most of which are officially supported by Stellar Defense but it is common to find conversion kits for specialized versions of the weapon and various one-off specialty conversions.

• S-17CR
  
  
  
  The most conventional S-17 variety is designed for the civilian market. Stellar often supplies these weapons to educators and the like with the intent of helping everyone get familiar with the Stellar Rifle anytime gun safety or shooting is being taught. It is a highly conventional rifle that fires in 3 round burst that can easily be configured to fire a range of ammunition types just by swapping out the barrel and using a proper magazine.
  
  
• S-17SF
  
  
  
  A bullpup configuration of the S-17, with a built in electronics package that supports powered rails and a battery back that can connect to the stock, semi-auto and full-auto firing modes. It is typically chambered to fire a heavy and fast round that produces a lot of recoil in order to penetrate the heavy material found on cyborgs. This heavy recoil would be an issue for normal users, but the gun itself is generally intended for augmented soldiers to use.
  
  
• S-17SMG
  
  
  
  The S-17SMG is cut down and chambered to use the same MA-5.56mm ammunition as the Magnetic Assembly's UG-12.
• S-17DMR
  
  
  
  The S-17 DMR has much of the outer casing stripped away, and has had some of the components moved about to allow the rife to balance well on the inbuilt tripod. While the weapon isn't generally as amazingly accurate as other marksmen weapons, its high compatibility with the S-17 series make it a popular choice for amateurs.
  
  
• S-17SF2
  
  
  
  "We're really going to have to use this thing..." - Official declined to be named
  
  With the American Union scrapping as much of its own equipment procured from the Magnetic Assembly as it could in 2320, Union special forces groups belonging to ISOC started to come to the realization that they would actually have to start using weapons like the S-17.
  
  The available rifles would use the same firing mechanism as the base rifle, but the thin plastic exterior used by the civilian models was removed and replaced with a more streamlined composite casing with a large opening door in the rear so that users could quickly check the firing action to perform any cleaning or administrative actions related to getting the gun working again. The case was also designed to be fully ambidextrous. with a charging handle on both sides.
  
  
• UG-17
  
  
  
  The version of the S-17 rifle that was rushed into acceptance with the American Union's ISOC at the start of 2321. The weapon incorporates all the improvements of the S-17SF2, and adds a suppression system, larger battery supply, magazine and feeding upgrades, along with an integrated SA-TD5.