 The replacement chosen was the BMW R 71 which had been rejected by the German Wehrmacht as a replacement for the R 12.As a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact the necessary legal, political and economic procedures were in place for BMW to provide the design, tooling and training for the manufacture of the motorcycle and military sidecar.Production was intended at three factories located in Moscow, Leningrad, and Kharkov with ancillary items coming from several other factories.