As a flat count to the unit that you see in the factory/store, yes that is true, with a caveat.

The 59 rank you mention still has the decimals in action, so you will upgrade or learn faster than the 41 rank.

The only way I know the MFS works is with the subsidiary DLC. I thought that the Experimental DLC did too, but I went and checked to be sure, and it appears it may not anymore. If you are trying to edit scenario files to add the MFS to them, that won't work as the scenario is locked down to create a...