The United Nations Space Command (commonly abbreviated as UNSC) is a fictional organization in the Halo series of games and novels by Bungie Studios.
The UNSC is the space military wing of Earth's United Nations government that is governed by the UNSC's High Command and is headquartered on Reach (until August 2552 A.D, when Reach was destroyed, see: Halo: The Fall of Reach) and Sydney, Australia, Earth. The UNSC is tasked with enforcing law and order (including suppressing rebel insurrections), and protecting the Inner and Outer Colonies through the Colonial Military Administration. Several sub-divisions of UNSC forces, such as Marines and local planetary militia, are managed by the United Nations Space Command Defense Force.
The UNSC is currently involved in a 27-year war with the technologically superior Covenant and following the beginning of the Covenant Civil War, they have secured an alliance with the rebels.
United Nations Space Command Defense Force
Marines
The Marine Corps serves as a versatile combat element, and is adapted to a wide variety of combat operations. The Marine Corps was initially composed of infantry combat forces serving aboard naval vessels, responsible for security of the ship, its captain and officers, offensive and defensive combat during boarding actions by acting as sharpshooters, and carrying out amphibious assaults. The Marines are now the main ground force component of the UNSC.
Navy
The Navy is the space combat element of the United Nations Space Command Defense Force. Its roles include ship-to-ship combat, orbital bombardment, the deployment of Longsword atmospheric & space fighters, and the method of delivery for Marine and Special Operations (ODST) forces through use of Human Entry Vehicles (HEVs). The UNSC currently has a fleet of about two hundred capital ships, along with Longsword fighters, though many of each were destroyed at the fall of Reach.
Orbital Drop Shock Troopers
The O.D.S.T. is an elite special forces group of the UNSCDF Marine Corps, commanded by Naval Special Warfare and Special Operations Command. They are dropped into their mission areas by an HEV (Human Entry Vehicle)'s low-orbit drop. They are also known as Helljumpers.
Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)
ONI is responsible for gathering, interpreting, and disseminating information gathered by UNSC forces. In addition, it maintains many top secret projects, such as the SPARTAN I and II projects, and is known for its dubious secrecy to the public. The acronym is a reference to an earlier Bungie game, Oni.
Technology
Despite the fact that the Halo universe is in the 26th century, human technology for day-to-day living is largely unchanged. However, mankind has reached the stars and created a modern interstellar empire, made only possible with spacecraft and Shaw-Fujikawa slipspace drives, which allow quick travel over extremely long distances, although the accuracy of the system is still rough.
A jump in technology was made once the Covenant became a major threat to the survival of humanity. Like the Covenant have with the Forerunners, the UNSC has managed to procure Covenant technology and apply it to their weapons systems and ships. Unlike the Covenant, human scientists are willing to innovate from this advanced technology and do more than merely copy it. Much of the SPARTAN II Project's technological area, which includes the development of the MJOLNIR MK5 battle armor and its shielding system, is largely derived from Covenant technology.
The SPARTAN Projects
The SPARTAN projects were conceived as a series of projects to create a new generation of "super-soldiers" for the purpose of quickly and efficiently preventing any possible insurrection(s) at the poorly-regulated fringes of UNSC space. In the first SPARTAN project, volunteers with military backgrounds were accepted but the results left much to be desired, mostly in psychological conditioning and performance. With the SPARTAN-II project, children throughout the colonies were genetically tested, and the children who tested positive for all the genetic markers (strength, agility, intelligence, etc) were visited by the UNSC to narrow down the number, as there were only enough resources for about half as many children as were genetically suitable. The children who made it into the project were literally chosen by a coin-flip. The first subject identified, a boy named John (later to be known only by the moniker 'Master Chief'), caught the "eagle" side of the quarter. As he became the leader of the Spartans, their official symbol became a golden eagle clutching three arrows.
After the children were selected, they were kidnapped by UNSC Navy SEALs. Genetic material was taken from them and this material was used to make flash clones. These clones were then immediately returned to "their" families, and after a few months, the imperfect clones died of a condition known as a "Metabolic Cascade Failure", effectively erasing any suspicions their families may have held. The actual children were then taken to a secret military facility on Reach where they would be trained to be the ultimate soldiers. When they were old enough, they were surgically modified to be stronger, faster, smarter, have faster reflexes and superior eyesight. Those that survived the procedures went on to become SPARTAN-II soldiers. While the feature most associated with the SPARTAN-IIs is the MJOLNIR combat armor, their first several missions were done without the use of any form of it, and later missions done only with an older, inferior model. It wasn't until just before the Covenant assaulted Reach that they were given the full MJOLNIR Mark V, which until that point was still in research.
The MJOLNIR battle armor now has been upgraded to the MJOLNIR Mark VI Armor. This newer version of the MJOLNIR has better shielding capabilities and is more resilient and stronger. It also appears that the crystal layer included in the suit can allow AI to pass from any part of the armor to a computer system, and back again, providing a part of the suit is touching it. This is a step up from the previous model, where an upload/download port on the suits' helmet was required for an AI to inhabit the armor.
Weapons
See the main article on List of weapons in the Halo universe.
Spacecraft - The primary offensive armament of UNSC spacecraft are Magnetic Accelerator Cannons (MACs). These use powerful superconducting magnets to accelerate projectiles weighing 600 tons in the case of ships, or 5,000 tons in the case of Super MAC platforms. These projectiles are composed of depleted Uranium, Titainum-A and/or Tungsten with a Ferrous Core are accelerated to over 40% of the speed of light by linear accelerator coils (coilgun). Before Reach fell, the Pillar of Autumn was equipped with a modified MAC that could fire three lighter projectiles instead of just one heavier projectile. It was originally intended to allow the Pillar of Autumn a better chance of disabling a Covenant ship, which was a feature required for a mission that was later scrubbed in First Strike.
As well as MAC's, UNSC ships employ a variety of missile and gun systems. The primary missile that they employ is the Archer anti-ship missile. Alternatively, they can deploy the large Shiva thermonuclear warhead.
As well as these, the UNSC mounts 50mm MLA CIWS (Close in Weapon System) for defense against enemy fighters and boarding craft.
UNSC ships also carry a number of C-709 Longsword Interceptors. These are armed with 110mm gatling Cannons and Anvil-10 ASMs. Alternatively they can be radio controlled and used to carry a Shiva that will detonate on impact, effectively destroying both the Longsword and its target.
Small arms - UNSC small arms use conventional technology in their working mechanism - projectiles and chemical propellants. An exception to this is the Warthog-mounted Gauss Cannon, which uses similar technology to the ship-based MACs, albeit on a much smaller scale. However in designing the structural layout of their small arms, the UNSC will often use unconventional layouts such as Bullpups. In addition, they employ a variety of high tech electronic accessories for their small arms. These increase the soldiers' ability to effectively use the weapon and include Head-Up-Displays (HUDs), smart-linked scopes, digital ammunition readouts, and other helpful widgets.
Vehicles
See the main article on UNSC vehicles
Vessels
The UNSC fleet has been decimated by nearly 3 decades of war with the Covenant, but the shipyards continue to produce vessels to defend humanity. Below is a list of known UNSC ships, dead and alive.
- Trafalgar, a supercarrier, was destroyed during the Battle of Reach
- Pillar of Autumn, a Halcyon-class cruiser. See the main article on Pillar of Autumn. Was refitted with extra-armor and plating for it's "Special Mission" for the Spartans.
- Dawn Under Heaven, another Halcyon-class cruiser, sister ship to the Pillar of Autumn.
- Leviathan, a Marathon-class cruiser, the most powerful ship "built by human hands," damaged at Sigma Octanus IV.
- Iroquois, a destroyer. After the battle of Sigma Octanus IV, an unseen Covenant tracking device was planted on the Iroquois, leading to the subsequent fall of Reach.
- In Amber Clad (FFG-142), a frigate commanded by Miranda Keyes and involved in the Battle of New Mombasa. Abandoned at Delta Halo and subsequently captured by The Flood and crashed into High Charity.
- Circumference, an ONI stealth-ship; prowler. Destroyed during the Battle of Reach.
- Apocalypso, another ONI stealth-ship. Recovered a mysterious Forerunner artifact which a crewmember later activated, leading to the events detailed in the ilovebees storyline.
- Commonwealth, a frigate. Status unknown, possibly destroyed at Chi Ceti, while the Spartan project was retreiving the MJOLNIR armor.
- Gettysburg, a frigate. Abandoned during the Battle of Reach. Later recovered by UNSC forces aboard a captured Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice
- Cairo, Athens, Malta, and Nassau, Super MAC Cannon Orbital Platform; 300 orbital platforms defended Earth during the Covenant attack, some were destroyed, including the Athens and Malta. Nassau "has only been seen in Dead or Alive 4, a non-Bungie game."[1] It has been speculated that the Nassau is another station orbiting Earth, on the other side of the planet that the Covenant attacked from at the Beginning of Halo 2
- Atlas, a carrier, carried the SPARTAN-II super soldiers to their first official mission, in the Eridanus system.
- Resolute, a destroyer
- Lancelot, a destroyer
- Meriwether Lewis, a frigate; Lieutenant Jacob Keyes served on this ship shortly before he was transferred to the Magellan.
- Midsummer Night, a frigate (a possible reference to the William Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night's Dream)
- Alliance, a frigate
- Allegiance, a frigate
- Minotaur, a destroyer, destroyed during the Battle of Reach
- Musashi, a carrier, destroyed during the Battle of Reach
- Fair Weather, a frigate
- Tharsis, a destroyer, destroyed during the Battle of Reach.
- Na Fianna, a frigate
- Republic, a destroyer, damaged and abandoned during the Battle of Reach
- Helios, a Zulu-class cruiser
- Heracles, involved in the Battle of Harvest and First Contact with the Covenant. Commanded by Captain Veredi and sustained heavy damage in battle. Returned to Reach several weeks later to report on the Covenant attack.
- Vostok, a frigate, destroyed in the Battle of Harvest
- Arabia, a frigate, destroyed in the Battle of Harvest
References
- Eric Nylund, Halo: The Fall of Reach, Del Rey, New York City, 2001.
- William C. Dietz, Halo: The Flood, Del Rey, New York City, 2003.
- Eric Nylund, Halo: First Strike, Del Rey, New York City, 2003.