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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 may be a reference to an earlier Bungie game, Oni, or the actual Office of Naval Intelligence.
As of this point, four sections of ONI have been identified.
Section One serves as the primary intelligence gathering agency in the UNSC. It is primarily tasked with tracking Covenant military deployments to protect human space.
Section Two is tasked with military propaganda and has the unenviable task of ensuring the that majority of the human populace does not realize how perilously close humanity is to losing the war with the Covenant.
Section Three is an element of ONI that has established the SPARTAN project, and handles other special weapons projects. Analgous to the modern Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Section Zero serves as ONI's Internal Affairs division, and monitors all other divisions. Of the four known sections, Zero is the most secretive, and some question its very existence. [1]
NavSpecWar
Shortened version of "Naval Special Warfare," this agency conducts top secret black operations, and deploys the SPARTAN-II supersoldiers. NavSpecWar was behind the SPARTAN-IIs' original mission to capture a Covenant Prophet, among other missions. NavSpecWar has overriding command in ground situations, as evidenced in Halo: The Fall of Reach when the Master Chief and his Spartans overrode standing orders for Marines on Sigma Octanus, and in Halo: First Strike when the Chief used his position and mission to override Lieutenant Haverson's orders. Among others, Colonel James Ackerson is a high-level official in NavSpecWar, and his special projects are of utmost importance.
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's shielding system, is largely derived from Covenant technology.
Flash clones
A flash clone is a quick, incomplete clone. An embryo is taken and developed a hundred times faster than it would have naturally, becoming something different from what it would have been. Many anomalies appear because flash clones are forced to develop too quickly. Flash clones don't have any muscle memory, no training like natural humans get observing people while growing up. They can be trained with intensive therapy, but after a year or two they start to degenerate in a process called Metabolic Cascade Failure until they die from various neurological diseases.
After the future SPARTAN-IIs were kidnapped from their homes, they were replaced by flash clones. Their purpose is to avoid parents from looking for their children, as this would be most troublesome for the SPARTAN-II project and the UNSC.
Also, if a DNA sample is available, flash cloning can be used to clone replacement organs (or maybe even limbs) that don't suffer from the same problems as complete clones. This was seen when Spartan Kelly received a new lung during the Battle of Reach. The MC's AI Cortana is also a product of Doctor Halsey's flash-cloned brain.
The SPARTAN Projects
See the main article on the Spartan-II Project
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 his rank, '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 in one talon and lightning bolts in the other.
After the children were selected, they were kidnapped by UNSC soldiers. 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 (Planet) 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 (Planet) 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
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, by modern standards, 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 Heads-Up-Displays (HUDs), smart-linked scopes, digital ammunition readouts, and other helpful widgets.
Most UNSC small arms are developed by WST manufacturing.
Vehicles/Armor Support
UNSC vehicles, like the small arms employed by infantry, utilize generally conventional, modern technology, such as wheels and treads, as opposed to Covenat vehicles which utilize gravity technology. However, while they are limited by standard tires and treads, UNSC ground vehicles do feature notably more advanced technology than modern vehicles. Warthog LRVs, for example, feature hydrogen fuel engines and compact nanotube wheels. Their armament is also generally of the same basic design as modern weapons systems, utilizing chainguns, HEAT rounds, and guided missile weapons. New Warthog models, however, feature heavy gauss cannons for anti-vehicle and anti-armor duties.
Most UNSC ground combat vehicles are manufactured by AMG Transport Dynamics.
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