Blueprint

Blueprints, also known as design specs, are reproductions of various technical drawings relating to either an architectural (such as buildings) or engineering design (such as various weapons, equipment, devices, vehicles, vessels, and aircraft). They are so-named because of the general color of the drawings, the results of applying negatives from copying. Though outdated, they have been used informally to refer to any plans. In several cases, these documents are sometimes considered extremely classified depending on how sensitive the subject of the blueprints are, and as such are usually packed in either a manilla envelope addressed to the recipient (usually a high-ranking official with necessary clearance), or they are carried in satchels/briefcases, and contain information such as schedules for various locations, maps relating to a facility with updates on it, or even blueprints.

Soviet Union
During the Virtuous Mission, the Soviet rocket scientist Dr. Nikolai Sokolov proceeded to place various classified documents relating to the Shagohod's development, including some blueprints of the weapon, into a lit stove, eventually disposing of all of them in a hurry after Naked Snake arrived, under the belief the latter was one of the GRU Colonel Volgin's soldiers. In addition, during Operation Snake Eater, documents detailing Metal Gear, as well as designs of the Shagohod with Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin's commentary were submitted to the CIA by Philosophers agent Ocelot shortly before Granin's arrest.

San Hieronymo Peninsula
During the San Hieronymo Incident, the renegade FOX unit as well as former members of the Red Army kept guard of blueprints for both the San Hieronymo Missile Base and the ICBMG's rocket booster (which had been modeled after the Saturn V rocket), among various other classified documents in regards to its activities and locations of key establishments on the peninsula's Soviet missile base. Big Boss and his resistance movement later procured the blueprints for both, the former via a submission from the group's spy unit and the latter at the request of their anonymous contact Ghost (true identity Dr. Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov).

Costa Rica/Peace Sentinel/Militaires Sans Frontières
Design specs for various weapons systems and equipment were scattered around Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The Militaires Sans Frontières procured several of these documents and developed their own variations of the weapons and equipment used, either by stealing them from the Peace Sentinel or by rescuing defecting researchers who supplied them with the documents for developing their own variations. In addition, the MSF also created their own documents and used them to create their own weapons systems/equipment, at least one of which was developed before their missions in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Diamond Dogs/Soviet forces/Private Forces
The Diamond Dogs frequently retrieved various blueprints allowing for the development of various weapons and equipment during the 1980s, some of which were stolen from the Soviets and/or various private forces active in Africa as part of a mission, while others were awarded by their successfully participating in various combat deployment assignments. When rescuing a disgruntled former Soviet bionics engineer after the latter made a failed defection to the west, the latter also supplied some blueprints for the device.

Raiden and Maverick Security Consulting, Inc.
In 2018, four years after Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, Raiden ended up severely wounded during battle with Samuel Rodrigues, resulting in his employers, the Private Military Security Company Maverick, retrieving his severed left arm and downloading/retrieving various files and decrypting them as they were corrupted due to the damage Raiden's arm sustained, also keeping the entire ordeal classified so as to prevent rival PMSCs from gaining access to the classified info, which included video data access files on Raiden's emergency surgery, blueprints for various cyborg organs, various blueprints on a modified version of a Metal Gear RAY Unmanned Gear from Desperado, and blueprint cluster files for the new Unmanned Gears, the Mastiff and the IF prototype LQ-84i Blade Wolf, as well as records of Raiden's time at Force XXI.

Behind the scenes
The Blueprint was first introduced in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops as a required gameplay element for recruiting Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov. In-game coding and various hacks from Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops indicated that both the blueprints and the secret docs were intended to also be viewable in the equipment menu, but were removed from the final version. Similar to all plot-related items, it is represented as a red and black item box.

"Confidential document (design specs for R&D Team). Details requirements for developing the ___________."

- CNFDTL DOC/design specs basic description in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

"Confidential document (design specs for R&D Team). Details requirements for cultivating bananas."

- CNFDTL DOC/Banana Cultivation Instructions in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Blueprints, this time called "CNFDTL DOC" and "design specs," reappeared in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Although they were called confidential docs, they were closer to blueprints as they were a means to develop weapons systems and various equipment. In some extra ops missions, one of the focuses is to procure design specs (which have five pages). These can also be awarded upon clearing a mission, or in some cases, clearing a mission with an S-rank. Although most of them pertain to weapons and equipment building for R&D, one dealt with cultivating Bananas. In addition, various unlockable items, more specifically the Rathalos wing, the Tigrex fang, the Gear REX mucous, the Gear REX concentrate, and the Gear REX super extract, operate under a similar manner to design specs that result in the creation of the Tanegashima, the Human Slingshot Post, and sling bands rank 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The sprite for the design specs/CNFDTL DOC is reused from the model viewer display of Huey's letter.

Likewise, new reports for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance via viral marketing as well as blueprints (several also password-protected) are often supplied with secret documents sent by Maverick regarding Raiden's status and stuff relating to his mission and enemies. The contents were mostly composed of blueprints of the various unmanned gears in the game.



In the TGS demos for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, missions that are otherwise not currently available were depicted as being classified documents.

In the E3 2015 demo for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, it was revealed that the player could retrieve blueprints for developing various weapons and equipment. In addition, a leaked trophy list revealed that collecting all of them will unlock the trophy/achievement "Collector."