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{{Era|UNSC|HCW|Post}}
{{Status|Canon}}
{{Ratings}}
{{Military infobox advanced
{{Affiliation infobox
|image=[[File:Merch UNSC Logo Black.svg|100px]]<br/>The [[Symbols of the UNSC|UNSC logo]] circa [[2560]].
|BG1=e
[[File:HW Cover-Wide.jpg|300px]]<br>[[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-IIs]], [[UNSC Marine Corps|UNSC Marines]], and several UNSC vehicles
|BG2=e
|formed=[[2163]]{{Ref/Reuse|waypointuniunsc}}
|image=[[File:Perfect Black UNSC logo.png]]
|allegiance=[[Unified Earth Government]]
|name=United Nations Space Command
|headquarters=*[[HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6]], [[Sydney]], [[Australia]], [[Earth]] {{C|Primary}}{{Ref/Reuse|waypointuniunsc}}
|type=[[Emergency Military]]
*[[UNSC Supreme Headquarters]], [[United Republic of North America|URNA]], [[Earth]]<ref>''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition)]]'', p. 285</ref>
|founding=[[United Nations]]
|branch=
|constitution=Democracy/Emergency military
|type=*Military, exploratory, and scientific force
|headofstate=*[[United Nations]]
*Emergency military government
*[[Unified Earth Government]]
|role=Military defense of [[Earth]] and [[Human colonies|her colonies]]{{Ref/Site|Id=waypointuniunsc|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/factions/unsc|Site=Halo Waypoint|Section=Universe, Factions|Page=UNSC|D=19|M=1|Y=2021|LocalArchive=https://archives.halopedia.org/waypoint/www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/factions/unsc.html}}
*[[Colonial Administration Authority]]
|size-title=Divisions
|headofgov=[[Unified Earth Government]]
|size=
|commanderh
*UNSC armed forces
|defacto=[[Fleet Admiral]] [[Terrence Hood]]
**[[UNSC Naval Command]]
|executive=[[UNSC Security Committee]]
***'''[[UNSC Navy]]'''
|legislative=[[UNSC Security Council]]
****'''[[Office of Naval Intelligence]]'''
|judicial=[[Office of Investigations]]<ref group="note">The [[Office of Investigations]] most likely investigates and judges the actions of all arms of the UNSC, as it is the only known judicial organization of the UNSC.</ref>
**[[Unified Ground Command]]
|capital=[[Earth]]
***'''[[UNSC Army]]'''
|language=[[English]] (Primary), [[Spanish]], [[Japanese]], [[Swahili]] and many others
***'''[[UNSC Air Force]]'''
|currency=[[cR|UN cR]]
***'''[[UNSC Marine Corps]]'''
|religious=Multi-religious
**'''[[Spartan Operations]]'''
|holiday=
|nicknames=UNSC
|anthem=
|motto=Per Mare, Per Terras, Per Constellatum{{Ref/Reuse|spartan ops}}
|formed=[[United Nations]] between [[2160]] and [[2164]]
|engagements=*[[Mars Campaign]]
|established=December [[2163]]
*[[Interplanetary War]]
|fragmented=
*[[Inner Colony Wars]]
|reorganized=
*[[Insurrection]]
|dissolved=
*[[Human-Covenant War]]
|restored=
*[[Post-Covenant War conflicts]]
*[[Created conflict]]
|commander1-title=Judicial branch
|commander1=[[UNSC Judge Advocate General's Corps]]
|commander2-title=Executive branch
|commander2=[[UNSC High Command]]
|commander3-title=Head of military
|commander3=
*[[UNSC Security Council]]<ref name="fs104">''[[Halo: First Strike]]'', p. 104</ref>
**[[Chief of Naval Operations|Commander-in-Chief Fleet/Chief of Naval Operations]]<ref name="GL209">'''[[Halo: Glasslands]]''', ''page 209''</ref>
**[[Commander-in-Chief of the Office of Naval Intelligence]]
**[[Commander-in-Chief of the Spartans]]
***<small>''Represented by:''</small><br> [[Chief of Staff of Spartan Operations]]<ref name="osfm1">''[[Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual]]'', p. 114</ref>
|commander4-title=Chairman
|commander4=[[Fleet Admiral]] [[Lord Terrence Hood]]<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/characters?page=4 ''Halo Waypoint'', Characters] "Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood is the UNSC Navy’s highest ranking officer and Chairman of the influential UNSC Security Council."</ref>
}}
}}
{{Quote|Per Mare, Per Terras, Per Constellatum.|Motto <small>([[Latin]] for ''"Through Sea, Through Land, Through the Constellations."'')</small><ref name="spartan ops">'''[[Halo 4]]''', ''[[Spartan Ops]]''</ref><ref>[[:File:Colonial Militia logo.jpg|Colonial Militia emblem from licensed ''Halo'' products]]</ref>}}
The '''United Nations Space Command''' ('''UNSC''') is the military, exploratory, and scientific agency of the [[Unified Earth Government|Unified Earth Government (UEG)]] and has acted as the emergency governing body of the [[human]] race at large for a time.<ref name="McLees">[http://halostory.bungie.org/oconnor_mclees_080508.html '''Halo.bungie.org''': ''Interview with Frank O'Connor and Robert McLees'']</ref> The UNSC was formed in the 22nd century, a time when remnants of old cultural ideologies clashed for supremacy in the [[Sol System]]. The UNSC served mainly as overseer of [[United Nations]] military operations in space. After initiating massive militarization [[propaganda]] throughout its off-world colonies, through the UNSC, the UN defeated [[Frieden]] and [[Koslovic]] insurgent forces in a conflict known as the [[Interplanetary War]], which consisted of several side-battles that took place on [[Mars]], the [[Jovian Moons]] and the [[South America]]n rainforests. Although the Interplanetary War brought a great deal of suffering to both the colonial population and the residents of Earth, it also united most of humanity's military forces by the end of the 22nd century.{{Ref/Site|Id=xbox|URL=http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/h/halo/storyline.htm|Site=Xbox.com|Page=Halo Storyline|D=24|M=04|Y=2008|LocalArchive=Archive:Xbox.com/Halo/Timeline}}


The '''United Nations Space Command''' ('''UNSC''') is the military, exploratory, and scientific agency of the [[Unified Earth Government]]. The UNSC was formed in the 22nd century, a time when remnants of old cultural ideologies clashed for supremacy in the [[Sol System]]. The UNSC served mainly as overseer of [[United Nations]] military operations in space. After initiating massive militarization propaganda throughout its off-world colonies, through the UNSC, the U.N. defeated [[Communism|Communist]] and [[Fascism|Fascist]] forces in a conflict generally known as the "[[Interplanetary War]]", which consisted of several side-battles that took place on [[Mars]], the [[Jovian Moons]] and the [[South America]]n rainforests. Although the Interplanetary War brought a great deal of suffering to both the colonial population and the residents of Earth, it also united humanity's military forces into a common armed force by the end of the 22nd century.
Prior to the [[Covenant]] [[First Battle of Harvest|attack]] on [[Harvest]] in [[2525]],{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}} the UNSC was stretched across [[Human colonies|human space]]. The most urgent concern was to contain the spread of the [[Insurrectionist]]s, a violent resistance movement consisting of colonists who wanted independence from the Unified Earth Government. The UNSC fought constant battles in a loosely-defined civil war known as the [[Insurrection]]. In an attempt to help end the long-running war, the UEG commissioned the [[ORION Project]] and later the [[SPARTAN-II program]], which created elite supersoldiers to combat the Insurrectionists. When the [[Human-Covenant War]] began and the alien invaders began destroying the [[Outer Colonies]], these Spartans became humanity's best hope against the technological superiority of the hegemony. When the war began, the UNSC, which had been mired in controversy, became humanity's greatest protector. This allowed the UNSC to override civilian rule and establish itself as humanity's primary government. Although the Unified Earth Government was more open to step down, the [[Colonial Administration Authority]], the arm of the UEG ruling over the colonies, resisted the UNSC's rise to power, and was stripped of its influence.{{Ref/Reuse|McLees}}


Prior to the Covenant [[First Battle of Harvest|attack]] on [[Harvest]] in [[2525]],<ref name="Contact">'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]'''</ref> humanity was in chaos. Battles on multiple fronts and planets evolved from a group known as the [[Insurrectionist]]s who wanted independence from the Unified Earth Government. The UNSC, more specifically, the UNSCDF, constantly battled against the Insurrectionists. In an attempt to help end the long running war against the rebels, the UEG commissioned the [[ORION Project]] and later the [[SPARTAN-II Program]], which created elite super-soldiers to combat the separatists and the insurrections they spawned. When the [[Human-Covenant War]] began and the alien invaders began decimating the [[Outer Colonies]], these Spartans became humanity's best hope against the technological superiority of the aliens. When the war began, the UNSC became humanity's greatest protector.
Near the end of the year [[2552]], Earth was the last remaining major human bastion: it too nearly fell under attack by the Covenant, succumbing to occupation. Near-crippled in the aftermath of the [[Fall of Reach]], the UNSC led by [[United Nations Space Command Security Council|Chairman]] [[Chief of Naval Operations]] [[Fleet Admiral]] [[Lord Terrence Hood]], dedicated most of its remaining assets to the defense of the Sol System. The Human-Covenant War finally came to an end after the UNSC and the [[Sangheili]] [[Fleet of Retribution]] [[Battle of the Citadel|eliminated]] the Covenant [[Prophet of Truth|leadership]] and [[Raid on Installation 08|destroyed]] the Flood threat.


This fact allowed the UNSC to override civilian rule and establish itself as humanity's primary government. Although the Unified Earth Government was more open to step down, the [[Colonial Administration]], the arm of the UEG ruling over the colonies, resisted the UNSC's rise to power, and was thus stripped of its power.<ref name="McLees">[http://halostory.bungie.org/oconnor_mclees_080508.html '''Halo.bungie.org''': ''Interview with Frank O'Connor and Robert McLees'']</ref>
In the aftermath of the war, the UNSC has upheld its [[Treaty of 2552|alliance]] with the [[Swords of Sanghelios]] and eventually ceded political power back to the UEG. The UNSC is now experiencing a resurgence as it rebuilds humanity's war-torn domain and moves to reestablish itself as a major power within the [[Orion Arm]].


By [[2552]], Earth was the last remaining major human bastion; and fell under attack by the Covenant forces. The [[Human-Covenant War]] finally came to an end after a UNSC and [[Covenant Separatists]] force [[The Covenant (Level)|eliminated]] the Covenant [[Prophet of Truth|leadership]] and [[Battle of Installation 00|destroyed the Flood]] threat.
==Mission==
[[File:HW2 MarineDeployment Concept.png|thumb|250px|A UNSC unit preparing to conduct a mass-deployment.]]
Though the official UNSC mission statement has been amended since it was established in [[2163]],{{Ref/Book|Id=osfm2|OSFM|Section=8: UNSC Organization}} the UNSC's statement of function can be summarized in two points:


By the time the war began, humanity, and thus the UNSC, had reached [[Technological Achievement Tiers|Tier 3]] of the [[Forerunner]] civilization achievement rank system. Humanity's rank continued to rise due to the capture of Covenant technology and equipment, which was studied and adapted for human needs. The very best and cutting edge of UNSC equipment was supplied to the [[SPARTAN-II]] project, and later less expensive but still cutting edge technology was given to the Spartan III's. One such example of innovative human technology is the energy shielding adapted and improved for use on the [[MJOLNIR]] armor.
*Uphold and advance the policies of the [[Unified Earth Government]].{{Ref/Reuse|osfm2}}
*Ensure the safety and security of Unified Earth Government territories, possessions, and areas vital to its interests.{{Ref/Reuse|osfm2}}


==Background==
During the [[Human-Covenant War]], notably during the [[Siege of the Inner Colonies|later years]], the UNSC's purpose was to protect [[humanity]] and ensure the survival of the human species.
The United Nations Space Command was formed by the United Nations during the [[Interplanetary War]]. After the UNSC victory, overpopulation on [[Earth]] became a major issue in the early 22nd century. This issue was resolved by colonizing and constructing vast cities on other planets in the [[Orion Arm]] of the galaxy, the [[Inner Colonies]] and later the [[Outer Colonies]].


The UNSC's defensive military force is the [[UNSC Defense Force]] (UNSCDF), and consists of the [[UNSC Air Force]], the [[UNSC Army]], the [[UNSC Marine Corps]] and the [[UNSC Navy]].<ref name="McLees"/><ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', ''page 37''</ref>
==Structure==
Ultimate authority to direct the actions of the UNSC's armed forces lies in the office of the [[President of the Unified Earth Government]]. The authority granted to the President is legally absolute, though the Chairman of the [[UNSC Security Council]] is the principal commander of all UEG military assets and is authorized to act in the president's stead regarding matters of defense.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22UNSC}} The Security Council acts as the principal staff element of the UNSC and is responsible for policy development, strategic planning, resource management and fiscal evaluations. The Security Council is staffed by the highest-ranking officers from the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force and Office of Naval Intelligence - with the [[Chief of Staff of Spartan Operations|Chief of Staff]] of the Spartan Operations department granted a non-voting advisory role on the council as of [[2554]].{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22UNSC}} The UEG also maintains a [[Secretary of Defense]] position, though the powers and limitations of this office are unknown.{{Ref/Level|H2|Metropolis}}


==History==
Despite the official status of the UNSC as subordinate to the UEG, the [[Massacre of the Outer Colonies]] in the war with the Covenant saw substantial authority handed from the government to the UNSC - with the military granted substantial emergency powers and martial law declared for the duration of the conflict. Civilian governance was formally restored in [[2553]] following the war's end, though this process considerably eroded the institutions of government and as such the UNSC retains a wide latitude of operational freedom regarding interactions with surviving colonies and affairs on Earth. This has led to a mass public sentiment that the UNSC is a military government, with the UEG in practice merely acting as its public relations arm.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22UNSC}} The UNSC is additionally bound by the laws of the [[UNSC colonial charter]], a document written to provide a set of regulations regarding military colonial governance.{{Ref/Novel|CH|Chapter=15}}
{{UNSC History}}
 
{{Main|History of the UNSC}}
Below the UNSC Security Council is the [[UNSC High Command]], or HIGHCOM - the UNSC's joint staff and executive body. Senior HIGHCOM officers report to the Security Council, but they primarily serve to coordinate joint and inter-agency protocols and objectives. HIGHCOM controls a wide range of sensitive and strategically vital officers and boards including the [[UNSC Inspector General]], [[General Officer Review Board]], [[UNSC Special Topics Committee]] and [[UNSC Ordnance Commission]].{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22UNSC}} HIGHCOM also serves to advise UEG civilian leadership on issues relating to defense, and are based at [[HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6]] in [[Sydney]], [[Australia]].{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFMOrganisation|OSFM|Page=120-121}} Other organizations included within HIGHCOM are a number of administrative commands, including [[UNSC Personnel Command]] (PERSCOM), the [[UNSC Medical Corps|Medical Corps]], the [[UNSC Engineering Corps|Engineering Corps]], [[UNSC Human Resources|Human Resources]], and [[UNSC Astrophysics|Astrophysics]].{{Ref/Novel|FoR|Chapter=15}} Legal matters such as the issuing and enforcement of [[:Category:UNSC protocols|protocols]] are handled by the [[UNSC Judge Advocate General's Corps]].<ref>''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]'', p. 123</ref> Research designed to improve the UNSC's operations is carried out by the [[UNSC Internal Audit|Internal Audit]] office.{{Ref/Novel|Gla|Chapter=13}}
 
Overall, HIGHCOM ensures that the UNSC's component branches work in close coordination, with very few "turf wars" over resources or responsibilities.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22UNSC}}
 
===Combatant commands===
The UNSC is divided into two primary combatant commands - [[UNSC Naval Command|Naval Command]] (NAVCOM) and [[Unified Ground Command]] (UNICOM). The former controls all space-based assets and operations, while the latter focuses on terrestrial and close-orbit missions.{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFMCommands|OSFM|Page=122-123}} NAVCOM has administrative control over the Navy{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Navy}} and its officers alongside select Marine Corps units.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}} UNICOM has operational authority over UNSC Army{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Army}} and Air Force deployments and some Marine units{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}, and work alongside the Navy to coordinate [[Orbital bombardment|orbital fire support]] missions and in-atmosphere support.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Navy}}
 
NAVCOM and UNICOM form joint task forces that are thus then assigned to one of four [[Central Command]]s (CENTCOMs) - responsible for the defense and security of a given region of human space, referred to as CENTCOM Regions. These regions follow well-mapped [[Slipstream space|slipspace]] routes which connect dozens of star systems; forces assigned to one CENTCOM cannot be moved to another without the approval of HIGHCOM, thus meaning each region must carefully marshal their limited resources. UNICOM planetside forces are organized into [[task force]]s that contain ground, aerospace, and maritime combat assets.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMCommands}}
 
==Military departments==
The UNSC's armed forces are comprised of six major military departments; four of these branches ([[UNSC Navy|Navy]], [[UNSC Marine Corps|Marine Corps]], [[UNSC Army|Army]] and [[UNSC Air Force|Air Force]]) are recognized and defined in UEG law, while the [[Spartan Operations]] division is a "continuing organization" that lacks explicit recognition and instead works directly under the UNSC's [[UNSC High Command|High Command]]. The [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] is a unique case; an organization that is bureaucratically a subordinate service of the Navy and not recognized as an independent service branch, but has enjoyed ''de facto'' autonomy from the Navy for nearly a century.{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22UNSC|Enc22|Page=52-53}} Despite these technicalities, these six organizations are all on occasion informally referred to as the six branches of the UNSC{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFM120|OSFM|Page=12-121}}{{Ref/Site|Id=WPUNSC|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/factions/unsc|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=UNSC|D=30|M=04|Y=2021}}
 
The military departments themselves are broken down into two major groupings; the '''UNSC Defense Force''' (UNSCDF) and the UNSCEF (presumably standing for something akin to '''UNSC Expeditionary Force'''). The former administers defensive assets of the UNSC and encompasses the Army and Air Force{{Ref/Site|URL=http://halostory.bungie.org/oconnor_mclees_080508.html|Site=halo.bungie.org|Page=Frank O'Connor/Robt McLees Interview - August 2008|D=18|M=04|Y=2022}}, while the latter includes Naval and Marine Corps forces. It is unclear whether the UNSCDF and UNSCEF have any relation to NAVCOM and UNICOM.
 
===Navy===
[[File:UNSC-Navy-logo1.png|thumb|250px|The UNSC Navy's logo.]]
{{Main|UNSC Navy}}
{{Quote|Provide naval forces to ensure freedom of access for aerospace and terrestrial operations.|The Navy's official mission statement.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMNavy}}}}
The Navy is the senior service of the UNSC{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22Navy|Enc22|Page=62}}, formed in [[2163]] during the [[Interplanetary War]].{{Ref/Reuse|WPUNSC}} The UNSC Navy is commanded by the [[Chief of Naval Operations]] (CINCNAV){{Ref/Book|Enc22|Page=104}}, with a [[Deputy Chief of Naval Operations]] serving as their deputy.{{Ref/Novel|HFS|Chapter=11}} The Chief of Naval Operations serves as the Navy's representative on the UNSC Security Council.{{Ref/Comic|HE|Issue=1}} The Chief of Naval Operations also serves as the [[Commander-in-Chief Fleet]] (CINCFLEET).{{Ref/Novel|Gla|Chapter=11}}
 
The UNSC Navy operates, trains, organizes and equips space forces to establish space superiority in deep space and close orbit - primarily signified by the use of its vast fleet of [[UNSC starship|spacecraft]]. This force is used for the purpose of destroying or suppressing enemy space components, in particular those seeking to attack UEG commercial or terrestrial holdings.{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFMNavy|OSFM|Page=124-126}} The Navy ensures the safety of UEG trade and commerce, assists other governmental agencies in agencies of interstellar governance and as such, very little of interstellar consequence happens without the help or oversight of the Navy.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Navy}} The UNSC Navy is headquartered at [[Fleet Command Headquarters]] on [[Reach]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=CH2|CH|Chapter=2}}
 
The Navy's collateral functions include;
*Interstellar transportation of UNSC combat assets.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMNavy}}
*Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Air Force and Marine Corps.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMNavy}}
*Providing forces for joint aerospace and terrestrial operations, in accordance with UNSC doctrine.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMNavy}}
*Coordinating with UEG civil agencies for the establishment and maintenance of naval depots and orbital yards.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMNavy}}
*Establishment of emergency military government in designated crisis areas.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMNavy}}
[[File:HM SpaceBattle ColourAdjusted Small.jpg|thumb|250px|UNSC Navy frigates engaging Covenant warships in space.]]
The Navy has a dual chain of command; administratively, Navy personnel report to NAVCOM while operationally they report to their assigned Task Command. There are three Task Commands under NAVCOM;
*[[UNSC Naval Command|UNSC Navy Fleet Command]] (FLEETCOM) - Headed by the Secretary of Fleet Command{{Ref/Site|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/characters/dimah-tchakova|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Dimah Tchakova|D=30|M=06|Y=2021}} and directs the movement and tasking of naval squadrons and coordinates with UNICOM. FLEETCOM is responsible for the deployment of Navy warfighting assets and maximizing their combat efficacy.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Navy}} Their direct deployment of the UNSC fleet sees them as the largest and most powerful of any NAVCOM grouping.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMNavy}}
*[[Naval Logistical Operations Command|UNSC Navy Logistical Operations Command]] (NAVLOGCOM) - Oversees the design, contracting and construction of Navy spacecraft alongside ensuring they are spaceworthy and supplied with parts, munitions, food and reaction mass.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Navy}}
*[[Naval Special Warfare Command]] (NAVSPECWARCOM) - A smaller, culturally-distinct section of the Navy that trains, equips and oversees [[UNSC Special Forces|special forces]] personnel in support of UNSC space operations.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Navy}} Marine Corps special forces units are typically tasked under NAVSPECWARCOM, as were the [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-II]] and [[SPARTAN-III program|SPARTAN-III]] program personnel prior to the establishment of the Spartan Operations branch.
 
Navy spacecraft are assigned to [[fleet]]s, which are organized in one of two ways;
*Expeditionary fleets - Numbered fleets (e.g. [[Third Fleet]]) designed for offensive operations in deep space and centered around massive [[UNSC carrier|carriers]].{{Ref/Book|HWF|Page=40-41}} Expeditionary fleets were largely decimated during the early years of the Covenant War, and by the war's end had no appreciable differences with defensive fleets due to being unable to make any major offensives without leaving the Inner Colonies dangerously vulnerable.{{Ref/Book|Id=HFB9|Halo: Fleet Battles|Section=Core Rulebook|Page=9}}
*Defensive fleets - Named fleets (e.g. [[Epsilon Eridani Fleet]]) typically named after the star system in which they are based. Defense fleets were historically considered little more than revenue police, though the onset of the Covenant war saw these units take a valuable role in providing desperately-needed training cadres and battle-ready (if outdated) warships.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Navy}}{{Ref/Reuse|HFB9}}
Fleets are assigned to numbered numbered [[Sector]]s such as [[FLEETCOM Sector One]], contextually organized based on low-energy slipspace routes leading away from [[Earth]]. Special [[task force]]s may also be created without being assigned to a sector, and given responsibility for regions outside of these standard routes - designated as "lettered sectors".{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Navy}} Fleets are comprised of numerous [[battle group]]s, flexible combat elements that can be "plugged together" into ad-hoc fighting forces depending on the immediate situation. [[Squadron]]s serve as administrative groupings of warships for record-keeping and honorific purposes.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Navy}}
 
The UNSC Navy maintains its own [[military police]] force{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFM112|OSFM|Page=112}}
 
===Marine Corps===
[[File:UNSC-Marines-logo1.png|thumb|250px|The UNSC Marine Corps' logo.]]
{{Main|UNSC Marine Corps}}
{{Quote|Provide combined arms expeditionary forces and security detachments.|The Marine Corps' official mission statement.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMMarines}}}}
The UNSC Marine Corps is another senior service of the UNSC{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}, and was formed alongside the Navy in 2163.{{Ref/Reuse|WPUNSC}}{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22Marines|Enc22|Page=56-57}} The Marine Corps is the space infantry department of the UNSC, and works closely alongside the Navy to effect military action across human space.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}} The administrative head of the Marine Corps is the [[Commandant of the Marine Corps]] (CMC), who serves as the Marine Corps' senior general and service representative on the UNSC Security Council and Unified Ground Command staff. The CMC is responsible for organising, planning and implementing all Marine Corps activities.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}} The Marine Corps is headquartered at [[Fleet Command Headquarters]] on Reach.{{Ref/Reuse|CH2}}
The Marine Corps is responsible for maintaining an expeditionary force in readiness, which can seize and defend terrestrial and extraterrestrial strategic sites in advance of a larger main UNSC deployment. As such, the Marine Corps organizes, trains, equips and maintains planetary and space-based combined-arms teams capable of being rapidly deployed by the Air Force and Navy.{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFMMarines|OSFM|Page=130-132}} They are the general-purpose combat force of the UNSC, and employ a wide range of personnel from [[Sniper|sharpshooters]] to [[combat engineer]]s to xenolinguists.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMMarines}} Marine Corps forces are under administrative control (ADCON) of [[Marine Corps Forces]] (MARFOR), which focuses on the ability to reorganize, train and direct a given unit's long-term activities. Operational control (OPCON) of combat forces is handed to one of two combatant commands; Naval Command (NAVCOM) and Unified Ground Command (UNICOM) - which provides the authority to conduct missions and delegate tasks, but not the ability to alter the internal organization of subordinate units.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}
 
Marine Corps forces are unusual in that they may transition back and forth between combatant commands in combat zones, synchronized by [[Joint Deconfliction Team]]s. Marine Corps forces assigned to NAVCOM form a unit referred to as Fleet Marine Forces, under the operational control of [[UNSC Fleet Command|FLEETCOM]] command. Fleet Marine Forces include Marines assigned to shipboard and facility security, [[Naval boarding|boarding parties]] and most aerospace assets. Landing parties and expeditionary ground combat elements remain under the jurisdiction of NAVCOM, though this reading of the regulations is vehemently contested by UNICOM. Conversely, Marines conducting long-term planetary security missions, train-and-equip details and force augmentation for UNSC garrisons fall under UNICOM control.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}
[[File:H3ODST Mombasa Marines Concept.png|250px|thumb|Marines and ODSTs on deployment in [[Mombasa]].]]
 
The Marine Corps' collateral functions include;
*Enforcement of emergency military law in designated crisis areas.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMMarines}}
*Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Army and Navy.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMMarines}}
*Furnishing security teams for the protection of UNSC property and high-value personnel.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMMarines}}
*Deployment of security detachments and organizations for service on Navy ships.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMMarines}}
*Development of doctrine, tactics, techniques and equipment for the rapid deployment and utilization of interstellar combat power.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMMarines}}
 
Marine Corps forces are typically deployed as part of a [[Marine Expeditionary Force]], which may encompass several divisions as subordinate units and is itself subordinate to Fleet Marine Forces.{{Ref/Novel|CH|Chapter=7}}
:xx - [[Division]] - 14,000 Marines led by a [[Major General]] and deployed as a [[Marine Expeditionary Force|Marine Expeditionary Unit]]{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}
:x - [[Brigade|Marine Brigade]]/[[Wing|Marine air wing]] - 9,000 Marines led by a [[Brigadier General]] and deployed as a Marine Air Wing{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}
:||| - [[Regiment]]/Marine Air Regiment - 3,000 Marines led by a [[Lieutenant Colonel]] or [[Colonel]] and deployed specifically by UNICOM as a Rapid Reaction Force{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}
:|| - [[Battalion]] - 900 Marines led by a Lieutenant Colonel or Colonel and deployed as a [[task force]] ground combat element or as a unit assigned to a [[UNSC carrier|carrier]]{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}
:| - [[Company]] - 180 Marines led by a [[First Lieutenant]] or [[Captain (UNICOM)|Captain]] and deployed as a special task force or as a unit assigned to a [[cruiser]]{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}
:{{*}}{{*}}{{*}} - [[Platoon]] - 40 Marines led by a [[Second Lieutenant]] or [[Staff Sergeant]] and deployed as a unit assigned to a [[UNSC frigate|frigate]]{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}
:{{*}}{{*}} - [[Squad]] - Thirteen Marines led by a Corporal or [[Sergeant]]{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}
:{{*}} - [[Section]] - Eight Marines led by a Lance Corporal or Corporal{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}
:Ø - [[Fireteam]] - Four Marines led by a [[Lance Corporal]] or [[Corporal]]{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}}


===Interplanetary War===
Marine [[Special operations (disambiguation)|special operations]] forces such as the [[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]] (ODSTs), [[UNSC Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance]] and other Marine special forces are typically deployed under the control of [[Naval Special Warfare Command]] (NAVSPECWARCOM).{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}} The ODSTs maintain a number of specialized internal divisions to oversee special activities such as the [[ODST Special Purpose Forces]], containing the air assault units nicknamed "[[Bullfrogs]]" and the [[Special Tactics and Equipment Group]] (STEG), who oversee the [[Hellbringers]] - specialized ODST warfighters who oversee the usage and deployment of demolition charges, incendiary weapons, [[nuclear weapon]]s and thermobaric weapons.{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22ODST|Enc22|Page=58-59}}
The UNSC has its roots in [[World War II]], which would form its parent organization, the United Nations. The UNSC was actually formed and fashioned as the result of a series of brutal conflicts across the Solar System and Humanity's space confines between [[2160]] and [[2164]], most prominently among them the Jovian Moons Campaign, The Rain Forest Wars, and a series of battles on [[Mars]].<ref name="xbox">[http://halostory.bungie.org/halostory.timeline.html '''halo.bungie.org''': ''Timeline'']</ref> The United Nations Space Command, as organized and orchestrated as it seems, is actually an emergency military government formed in such strife. These encounters were centered around U.N. clashes with dissident political movements, the most important of which were the "[[Koslovics]]" and the "[[Frieden]]". More specifically, the [[Frieden]] movement was a fascist organization based on the [[Jovian Moons]], though they received backing from some corporations operating in the [[United German Republic]] on Earth, while their ideological opponents, the [[Koslovics]], formed a [[Communism|Marxist-Leninist]] group centered around the leadership of [[Vladimir Koslov]].


The war began with an attack on U.N. Colonial Advisers on the moon of [[Io]], one of the moons of [[Jupiter]], but would spread to Mars and parts of [[South America]] in the [[Rain Forest Wars]]. These events culminated in a U.N. build-up in the 2160s, which would result in the second of the great reforms, the first being from the League of Nations into the U.N. The second reformed the U.N. from a largely diplomatic organization to a permanent Unified Earth Government as an ultimate power to lead the human race by [[2170]].
===Army===
[[File:UNSC-Army-logo1.png|thumb|250px|The UNSC Army's logo.]]
{{Main|UNSC Army}}
{{Quote|Provide forces for sustained terrestrial combat operations and civil works.|The Army's official mission statement.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMArmy}}}}
The UNSC Army is the primary terrestrial department of the UNSC, and provides the majority of the logistical support and [[UNSC Army Reserve|reservist soldiers]] who fight in ground campaigns.{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22Army|Enc22|Page=61}}{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFMArmy|OSFM|Page=133-135}} The Army is responsible for defense of UEG territorial holdings and the long-term occupation of enemy territories, and as such trains, organises, equips and maintains amphibious, land, and airborne forces for this mission.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMArmy}}{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22UNSC}} As such, while all Army soldiers are trained warfighters, in peacetime they also provide an invaluable force of engineers, technicians, builders and designers who perform public works and improve existing colonial infrastructure to support future UNSC deployments.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMArmy}}{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Army}} The Army also maintains its own [[UNSC Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]] for performing some of the duties listed above{{Ref/Game|H5G|Edition=Limited Edition|[[Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition dossiers|Dossier]] - Holly Tanaka}}{{Ref/Comic|HE|Issue=17}}, alongside the [[UNSC Army Security Forces|Army Security Forces]] for the purpose of [[Military police|military policing]] - particularly among the [[Inner Colonies]]. Army Security Forces may be employed for the duties of colonial occupation, reconstruction oversight and even civilian law enforcement, or deployed into the [[Outer Colonies]] to assist [[CAA Marshals]] and UNSC peacekeeping forces in fighting against [[Insurrectionist]] elements, monitoring megacorporate activities and guarding critical infrastructure.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Army}}
[[File:HR Campaign Winter Contingency 3 Charlie attacking.jpg|250px|left|thumb|Troopers of [[3 Charlie]] engaging Covenant forces in the [[Visegrád]] region on the morning of [[2552#July|July 24, 2552]].]]
The Army's collateral functions include;
*Conducting civil works that have strategic application, including projects for improvement of navigation and follow-on [[terraforming]].{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMArmy}}
*Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Air Force and Marine Corps.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMArmy}}
*Organisation and training of civil defense units (colloquially "[[Colonial Militia|militias]]"){{Ref/Reuse|OSFMArmy}}
*Providing forces for joint aerospace and space operations, in accordance with UNSC doctrines.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMArmy}}


===Colonization===
Army forces have been historically administratively organised under the control of specialised local commands ([[Army Component Command]]) based on a particular assigned [[Human colonies|colony]], though the destruction of many of these worlds in the war with the Covenant saw most of these "temporarily" disestablished and replaced by sector working groups on [[Earth]] and [[Reach]]. Operational authority of Army forces is granted to UNICOM.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Army}}
The four-year long war put the spotlight on problems facing the overpopulated planet, and the Rain Forest Wars also exacerbated the problems relating to food distribution. The ensuing famine and societal problems related to the post-war population boom providing the spark to change the political nature of governance on [[Earth]] and elsewhere, leading to the political system seen in the 26th Century.


These pressures also helped make space colonization seem more attractive in later centuries, as the Unified Earth Government would sign off on a colony ship program that was revealed in [[2310]] to ease the burden on the ailing home world. This would not have been possible without the invention of the [[Slipspace]] [[Slipspace|Shaw-Fujikawa drive]] in the late 2200s, which allowed the ships to travel far greater distances than ever before.
The Army operates its own special forces such as the [[UNSC Army airborne|Army airborne]], [[UNSC Army Pathfinders|Pathfinders]] and [[UNSC Army Rangers|Army Rangers]] - who are presumably organised under [[Unified Special Warfare Command]] (USW), or simply Special Warfare Command (SPECWARCOM). SPECWARCOM organises its detachments into "Groups" such as [[Special Warfare Group Three]]. , as well as specialised maritime forces colloquially referred to as the "wet navy". Army submarine arsenal ships and aircraft carriers are vital components in the defense of colony worlds.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Army}}


It took 52 years before the first colony ship, the ''[[Odyssey]]'', was launched, and what became the so-called Inner Colonies were not fully colonized until the end of the 24th century. The apex of human colonization would come in [[2492]], when more then 800 worlds were inside UNSC territory and a handful of them were under development or had already developed into colonies. By this time, a ring of [[Outer Colonies]] was providing the UEG with the raw materials that made the macro-economy work; the political power, however, remained with the aforementioned [[Inner Colonies]]. The massive difference in wealth distribution and political power, which became a hallmark of humanity by this period, led to new threats of secession from the outer ring. Fearing the consequences of the breakup of the interstellar empire and seeing the benefits of avoiding all-out war to defend their hold on the colonies, the Earth government would embark on the [[SPARTAN-I]]s, the predecessors to the [[SPARTAN-II]] program in [[2491]], beginning with the [[ORION Project]].
===Air Force===
[[File:UNSC-AirForce-logo1.png|thumb|250px|The UNSC Air Force's logo.]]
{{Main|UNSC Air Force}}
{{Quote|Provide aerospace defense and conduct space control operations.|The Air Force's official mission statement.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMAirForce}}}}
The UNSC Air Force serves as the primary aerospace combat department of the UNSC. Contrary to their name, the Air Force does not simply operate aircraft within a planetary atmosphere, but instead focus on maintaining aerospace superiority over a given world via the use of unmanned drones, [[Space fighter|crewed aerospacecraft]] and [[orbital weapon platform]]s.{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22AirForce|Enc22|Page=60}} The Air Force operates a network of quick rapid reaction squadrons on Earth and in the Inner Colonies, which are prepped and ready to deploy atmospheric fighter craft and military spaceplanes at a moment's notice. These strikecraft work alongside surveillance and weapons satellites to attrition an attack and assist Navy elements on station - this task saw the Air Force rack up a considerable kill ratio against Covenant invaders during the Great War despite their disadvantage in numbers and technology.{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFMAirForce|OSFM|Page=136-138}} The Air Force's atmospheric forces are primarily comprised of unmanned drones such as the [[F-99 Wombat]] which are deployed in large numbers, though they are augmented by crewed multi-role craft such as [[GA-TL1 Longsword]] interceptors, [[F-41 Broadsword]] fighters and even [[B-65 Shortsword]] strategic bombers.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22AirForce}}
[[File:F-99 CAP.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The Air Force operates a number of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) such as the F-99 Wombat (pictured).]]
The Air Force's collateral functions include;
*Deployment and maintenance of UNSC unmanned defense satellites and orbital weapon platforms.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMAirForce}}
*Monitoring and regulation of military and civilian orbital activites.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMAirForce}}
*Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Army and Navy{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMAirForce}}
*Furnishing support and space support for the Army and Navy.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMAirForce}}


===The Human-Covenant War===
Air Force units may be expeditionary or garrison in nature, with the largest overall groupings named [[Group]]s and [[Wing]]s, respectively. A given Group/Wing is a larger organisation within the Air Force that combines several air [[Squadron]]s with non-aircraft units to provide specialised functions such as airbase operation and fuel refining. Squadrons consist of two to six [[Flight]]s plus additional command and technical elements, and are typically named by a number and a mission type (such as the [[980th Intercept Squadron]]), while a Flight consists of three to four individual aircraft and their support personnel. Flights are officially identified by a phonetic letter designation, though most also get an informal nickname.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22AirForce}}  
{{main|Human-Covenant War}}


[[2525]] marked the most important turning point in human history; it would mark the beginning of the great technological advancement, the unification of a divided and fractured human race, and the [[Halo: Contact Harvest|first contact]] of humanity and an extra-terrestrial intelligence, the [[Covenant Empire|Covenant]]. It would also see a majority of the Earth government's colony worlds destroyed, and billions of colonists and military personnel slaughtered by orbital plasma bombardment and planetary invasion, known as [[glassing]]. Thus began the Human-Covenant War with the [[First Battle of Harvest]].
Air Force orbital defense platform assets are grouped under the [[Orbital Defense Command]]{{Ref/Level|H4|Midnight}}, while regular air combat operations are conducted under the [[Air Combat Command]].{{Ref/Map|HR|Tempest}} The Air Force also maintains its own [[Wikipedia:Signals intelligence|signals intelligence]] (SIGINT) division{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFM113|OSFM|Page=113}} and the [[Air Mobility Express]] - who work to provide airlift and spacelift capacity for the UNSC.{{Ref/Game|HR|[[AMX-4]] and [[AMX-42]] decals}} The Air Force often employs Army maritime forces as launch platforms for its operations, using roving watercraft and carrier platforms to vector strikes against targets from outside the enemy's sensor horizon before retreating to underwater staging areas.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22AirForce}}


Stemming from the chance encounter of human and Covenant forces at [[Harvest]], the first contact made between humanity and the Covenant involved the ship ''[[Minor Transgression]]'', and was less peaceful than the second contact made between the two factions. A less aggressive meeting between representatives of the two factions took place on the fields of [[Harvest]], but the peaceful meeting soon turned into a blood bath, with the Covenant claiming the planet for the numerous "[[Forerunner]] relics" present (unaware that the humans ''are'' the relics), slaughtering most of the colony's population.<ref name="Contact"/>
The Air Force was the first service department to directly collaborate with the newly-established Spartan Operations branch, funding a joint-operations laboratory to test novel ways in which super-soldiers can augment their capabilities and certifying [[SPARTAN-IV program|Spartan-IV]] personnel as [[pilot]]s for next-generation fighters.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMAirForce}}


On April 20, a scout ship, the ''[[UNSC Argo]]'', was sent to investigate the cessation of communications between Harvest and the rest of the UEG's colonies. Before being destroyed by Covenant forces, it discovered that everything on the planet had been completely incinerated, and the surface covered by fields of magma, leaving nothing alive. Soon after, [[Battlegroup 4]], consisting of the frigates ''[[UNSC Arabia]]'' and ''[[UNSC Vostok]]'' and the [[UNSC Destroyer|destroyer]] ''[[UNSC Heracles]]'', were sent to investigate. On October 7, the battle group dropped out of Slipspace and to Harvest. In orbit around the remains of the colony world was a single alien ship which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying all the ships except one. Intercepted communications identified the enemy as the Covenant, a caste-driven, theological organization made up of several alien species. The message "''Your destruction is the will of the gods...and we are their instrument''" was broadcast in perfect [[English]].<ref name="Reach">'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'''</ref>
===Office of Naval Intelligence===
[[File:ONI Seal 1.png|thumb|250px|The Office of Naval Intelligence's logo.]]
{{Main|Office of Naval Intelligence}}
{{Quote|Provide technical capabilities for the support of psychological, information and cyber operations.|The Office of Naval Intelligence's official mission statement.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMONI}}}}
The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the preeminent intelligence service within the UEG.{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFMONI|OSFM|Page=127-129}} The organisation is ostensibly and bureacratically subordinate to the UNSC Navy, though in practice retains almost complete autonomy thanks to nearly a century of growth. This has seen ONI take over the duties of previously-independent agencies such as the [[Department of Colonial Security]] (DCS) to become the sole  major intelligence organisation in human space. ONI is headed by the [[Commander-in-Chief of the Office of Naval Intelligence]] (CINCONI), who is granted a seat on the UNSC Security Council. ONI remains closely-linked with the Navy in terms of administration and overall culture, though collaboration at the flag officer level is fraught with political peril and bureaucratic manoeuvring.{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22ONI|Enc22|Page=63}}


Since the later [[Second Battle of Harvest]] in [[2526]], where a huge human fleet led by [[Vice Admiral]] [[Preston Cole]] barely won against a smaller [[Covenant]] fleet in a symbolic "victory" for humanity, the humans' grip on their territories declined significantly in the course of their struggle. The Covenant had managed to capture the majority, if not all of the [[Outer Colonies]], and a portion of the [[Inner Colonies]].
ONI's collateral functions include;
*Deployment of covert teams for direct action and technical data collection.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMONI}}
*Oversight of the gathering, analysis and dissemination of national security information from around the UEG.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMONI}}
*Development of doctrine, techniques and equipment for the collection and exploitation of information in support of UEG security.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMONI}}
*Providing combat support intelligence for UNSC operations.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMONI}}
*Establishment of covert observation systems around enemy colonies and facilities.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMONI}}


By this time, the UNSC overrode the UEG, and thus the central civilian authority throughout the human worlds and Earth itself. Although the central government was more willing to step down, the [[Colonial Administration]] was far more reluctant to this idea, and thus the UNSC stripped it of most of its power. By the middle to late stages of the war, the government of humanity could be more accurately described as an "emergency military" government.
To achieve its goals, ONI is divided into five sections that each specialise in different aspects of intelligence gathering, analysis and dissemination. Each section in turn, has its own compartmentalised teams dedicated to more specific long-term taskings and program management.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22ONI}}
*[[ONI Section Zero|Section Zero]] - Section dedicated to internal affairs and security audits. Section Zero believes its existence to be a secret, but other sections are aware of their existence and often work to infiltrate it and turn it against their rivals.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22ONI}}
*[[ONI Section One|Section One]] - Section dedicated to military intelligence gathering and analysis. This is the oldest and most traditional element of ONI, with offices and functions that predate even the creation of the UNSC.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFMONI}} As such, this is the only section to have a notable public presence, with the [[Fleet Intelligence Center]] (FIC) issuing UEG slipspace travel interdiction orders, planetary evacuation notices and thread advisories on behalf of the UNSC and UEG.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22ONI}}
*[[ONI Section Two|Section Two]] - Section dedicated to information operations and public relations. This section began as the public relations division of ONI, but soon grew into an organisation specialising in "information shaping" across the UEG. This has seen Section Two commonly labelled as a propaganda centre, though the section's activities tend more toward disseminating accurate information and reports for use by policy makers.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22ONI}}
*[[ONI Section Three|Section Three]] - Section dedicated to special acquisition, research and development projects for the UNSC. Section Three maintains a vast number of front organisations and wields considerable power, and leverages this both covertly and overtly in the corporate and academic worlds.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22ONI}}
*[[ONI Section Four|Section Four]] - Clandestine survey group that conducts [[xenoarchaeology]] and planetary survey studies, claiming new worlds for ONI use without the approval or knowledge of the UEG. Section Four additionally maintains observation capabilities on ex-Covenant, Banished and independent human worlds.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22ONI}}


By [[2552]], the UNSC, outnumbered and out-gunned, had managed to slow down the Covenant's inexorable progress through former human space, but the situation was dire. In desperation, [[HIGHCOM]] ordered a high-risk op, sending the SPARTAN-II super soldiers, the best soldiers ever fielded by humanity, to insert into Covenant space, capture a high-ranking [[Prophet]], and return to UNSC space in an attempt to ransom for a truce. Before this particular operation began, the Covenant found and destroyed the human stronghold planet [[Reach]], killing most of the Spartans and a large portion of the UNSCDF, inadvertently stopping the SPARTAN-III operation and rendering a vast amount of the super soldiers [[MIA]].
===Spartan Operations===
[[File:Spartan Branch insignia.png|thumb|250px|The insignia of Spartan Operations.]]
{{Main|Spartan Operations}}
Established in [[2553]]{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22Spartan|Enc22|Page=64-65}}{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFM32|OSFM|Page=32}}, Spartan Operations (sometimes unofficially termed the "Spartan branch") is the sixth and newest military department of the UNSC, charged with oversight of the [[Spartan]] supersoldiers. Unlike the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, Spartan Operations is not a formal military branch recognised in UEG law but instead a "continuing organisation" that lacks explicit legal recognition.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22UNSC}} Spartan Operations instead functions as a [[UNSC Special Forces|special forces]] command that answers directly to the UNSC Security Council, eschewing the oversight of ONI that characterised the [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-II]] and [[SPARTAN-III program|SPARTAN-III]] programs in the earlier half of the 26th century.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Spartan}} The Spartan Operations program is led by [[Commander-in-Chief of the Spartans]] (CINCSPAR), a position which was granted a non-voting advisory seat on the UNSC Security Council in [[2554]].{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22UNSC}}
[[File:H4SO Lancer.png|thumb|left|250px|Spartan Operations personnel are signified by their unique usage of [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor]].]]


A single ship, the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} managed to escape the planet, with two SPARTANs on board, [[Linda-058]], who was presumably dead in the [[Fall of Reach]] and the [[John-117]]. The ship followed coordinates derived by the A.I. [[Cortana (AI)|Cortana]] to a ringworld known as [[Halo Array|Halo]]. There John-117 destroyed a large Covenant fleet and the ringworld itself. He also encountered a parasitic lifeform known as the [[Flood]], the species that the ring, [[Halo Array|Halo]], had been built to starve. The major side-effect of the activation of the ring would lead to the extinction of all life within three radii of the galactic center. John-117 destroyed the ring, believing it to be too powerful, by detonation of the reactor of the Pillar of Autumn. After hijacking a Covenant Flagship known as the ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'', the SPARTAN reunited with the remaining survivors from Installation 04 and the destruction of Reach and attacked a force of Covenant ships in [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]], one of the most successful UNSC operations against the Covenant in the entire war.
Spartan Operations is predominantly comprised of [[SPARTAN-IV program|SPARTAN-IV]] personnel; a program originated in the final months of [[2552]], alongside some remaining SPARTAN-III personnel. SPARTAN-III personnel also serve in the unit, with all known surviving IIIs offered integration into SPARTAN-IV following the war's end.{{Ref/Site|Id=HWSpartan|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/factions/spartans|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Spartans|D=21|M=04|Y=2021}} Despite this, Spartan Operations only retains administrative control of the Spartans themselves, with operational authority granted to [[Unified Special Warfare Command]] and [[Naval Special Warfare Command]] for field deployments.{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22Fireteams|Enc22|Page=74-75}} Tactical deployments of Spartan personnel are overseen by Central Command in their assigned CENTCOM Regions, who oversee the allocation of Spartans to various UNSC fleets and armies within their purview.{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFM34|OSFM|Page=34}} As such, Spartans are often deployed alongside UNICOM and NAVCOM special forces units, such as ODSTs and Army Rangers.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Spartan}} Spartan Operations additionally continues to operate programs inherited from prior Spartan generations such as the [[Headhunters]].{{Ref/Site|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/canon-fodder-have-s-moa|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Have S'Moa|D=30|M=06|Y=2021}}


By October of [[2552]], the Covenant had haphazardly discovered the position of the human home world, Earth, and sent a preliminary task force there, believing it to be the location of the [[Installation 00|Ark]], an ancient Forerunner relic. They encountered staunch resistance, and were initially fended off. Further complications arose from the political and religious crisis that emerged in the wake of a UNSC operation to assassinate the [[Prophet of Regret]], and the secession of the [[Sangheili]] from the hegemony, leading to the [[Great Schism|Covenant Civil War]], further throwing the Covenant into chaos. Nevertheless, by November, what was left of the [[Covenant Loyalists]] had subjugated large parts of Africa, devastating much of the planet. Only their retreat through a Forerunner [[The Artifact|portal]] in [[Africa]], and the arrival of the [[Sangheili Fleet]], stopped the utter destruction of the UNSC and Earth itself.
Unlike the rest of the UNSC, the Spartans do not operate a strict escalating rank structure and instead operate in a strict framework that emphasises teamwork, co-operation and specialisation based on personal skill alone.{{Ref/Book|Id=H4EVG33|H4EVG|Page=33}} This is the result of a deliberate effort to emphasise the informal leadership traditions of prior Spartan programs and adapt them to emphasise independence of rigid chain of command adherence. As such, all Spartans receive a direct commission as an [[Commissioned officer|officer]] in the UNSC, though this authority typically does not extend outside of their direct chain of command. Nonetheless, UNSC personnel in the field are often expected to defer to Spartans and in turn, Spartans are expected to take the initiative in combat scenarios. The baseline Spartan role sees a given Spartan tasked with the equivalent authority of a [[Lieutenant]] in the Navy, with higher ranks awarded appropriately equivalent officer status.{{Ref/Book|OSFM|Page=32-33}}


The UNSC and Covenant Separatists forces launched a joint operation to destroy the Covenant Loyalists once and for all at the Ark, stopping the installation from firing the Halos, killing the Covenant's last remaining leader, the [[Prophet of Truth]], and destroying the bulk of the Loyalists' remaining forces. On March 3, [[2553]], the Human-Covenant War officially ended in a victory for the UNSC and the Covenant Separatists, but at a high price, with most major military outposts destroyed except for Earth as well as many colonies (although it seems that most of the colony worlds were not glassed during the war, with only seventy-six worlds known to have been totally destroyed). It is presumed that millions of UNSC personnel and an estimate twenty-three billion human civilians had been killed from 2525-2553.
Spartans are typically deployed in fireteams of 4-5 personnel, with each member assumed to be omni-capable in most disciplines. As such, they are typically expected to develop specific highly-specialised skillsets known as "[[Specializations]]" to further aid their team and enhance their subject matter expert status. Fireteams are generally assigned based on social dynamics and combat efficiency, though Spartans are expected to perform well in any unit.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Spartan}}


===Reconstruction===
Alongside the Spartan personnel themselves, Spartan Operations operates its own network of infrastructure to serve as training and stationing grounds. These include orbital training stations such as [[Laconia Station|Laconia]], [[Naxos Station|Naxos]] and [[Virgo Station|Virgo]], alongside smaller [[War Games]] platforms known as [[Munera Platform]]s.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Spartan}} Spartan Operations is also involved in the [[Anvil Initiative]] and [[Project CRUCIBLE]], a joint-initiative with the [[Swords of Sanghelios]] to equip and train Spartans and [[Sangheili]] for joint operations, based on [[ANVIL Station]].{{Ref/Book|Enc22|Page=37}}
Since 2553, the UNSC has engaged in an extensive period of reconstruction in order to restore stability to the shattered remnants of human space. The UNSC has moved to reclaim those worlds that were abandoned due to Covenant attacks during the Human-Covenant War. By [[2589]], the former human stronghold of [[Reach]] had been restored and resettled by the UNSC.<ref>'''[[Halo: Reach]]''', campaign level ''[[Lone Wolf (Halo: Reach level)|Lone Wolf]]''</ref> The UNSC also maintains its earlier truce with the members of the [[Covenant Separatists]].


==Organization==
==History==
'''[[Unified Earth Government]]''' and '''[[Colonial Administration Authority]]'''
{{UNSC History}}
*'''United Nations Space Command'''
===Origins===
**'''[[UNSC Security Committee]]'''
{{Main|Jovian Moons Campaign|Rain Forest Wars}}
**'''[[UNSC Security Council]]'''
By [[2160]], two dissident movements had formed in opposition to the [[United Nations]] and the [[national government]]s of Earth across the Solar system; the [[Koslovics]] and the [[Frieden]]s.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}} Despite empowering the United Nations to stem violence from these two new blocs, it only exacerbated it leading to the Jovian Moons Campaign and eventually the dreadful siege known as the Rainforest Wars.{{Ref/Book|Id=enc22pg21|Enc22|Page=21}} In response to this,{{Ref/Reuse|enc22pg21}} the United Nations would in [[2163]] commission the creation of a military force primarily composed of naval and marine forces.{{Ref/Reuse|waypointuniunsc}} These marine forces would be composed of the spaceborne forces of several nations.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22Marines}} Overall, it was to be a powerful military arm to defend Earth and her colonies called the United Nations Space Command.{{Ref/Reuse|enc22pg21}}
***'''[[United Nations Space Command Defense Force]]'''
****'''[[High Command]]''' (HIGHCOM)
*****'''Administrative'''
******'''[[PERSCOM|Personnel Command]]''' (PERSCOM)
******'''[[Unified Ground Command]]''' (UNICOM)
*******'''[[Special Warfare Command]]''' (SPECWARCOM)
******[[Colonial Military Administration|'''Colonial Military Administration''']]
******'''[[UNSC Astrophysics]]'''
******'''[[UNSC Medical Corps]]''' (MEDCORPS)
******'''[[UNSC Engineering Corps]]''' (ENGCORP)
******'''[[Operational Test and Evaluation Center|UNSC Test and Evaluation Corps]]'''
******'''[[UNSC Ordnance Committee]]'''
*****'''Uniformed Services'''
******'''[[UNSC Navy]]'''
*******'''[[UNSC Naval Command|Naval Command]]''' (NAVCOM)
********'''[[Fleet Command]]''' (FLEETCOM)
*********'''[[Office of Naval Intelligence]]''' (ONI)
**********'''[[Beta-5 Division]]'''
***********[[SPARTAN-III Program|Project SPARTAN-III]]
**********'''[[UNSC Prowler Corps|Prowler Corps]]'''
**********'''[[Signal Corps]]'''
********'''[[Logistical Operations Command]]''' (NavLogCom)
*********'''[[Office of Investigations]]''' (OI)
********'''[[UNSC Special Forces|Naval Special Warfare]]''' (NAVSPECWAR)
*********[[Project ORION]]
**********[[SPARTAN-I Program|Project SPARTAN-I]]
*********[[SPARTAN-II Program|Project SPARTAN-II]]
*******'''[[UNSC Marine Corps]]'''
********'''[[Marines|UNSC Marine Infantry]]'''
********'''[[Marines|UNSC Marine Aviation]]'''
********'''[[Logistical Operations Command|UNSC Marine Logistics]]'''
********'''[[Military Police|UNSC Marine Military Police]]'''
********'''[[UNSC Special Forces|UNSC Marine Special Operations]]'''
*********[[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]]
*******'''[[UNSC Army]]'''
********[[UNSC Army|UNSC Army Infantry]]
********[[Military Police|UNSC Army Military Police]]
*******'''[[UNSC Air Force]]'''
**'''Commerce'''
***'''[[UNSC Department of Commercial Shipping|Department of Commercial Shipping]]'''
**'''Other'''
***'''[[UNSC Symphony Orchestra]]'''


==Economy==
===Mars Campaign===
The UNSC uses the [[UN Credit|United Nations Credit]] monetary unit to organize its economical stability by selling or buying military equipment, supplies and costs for shipping, etc. The U.N. Credit was implemented by the United Nations some time before its dissolution and replacement with the Unified Earth Government in [[2164]]. For transporting food and raw materials between colonies, the UNSC maintains a [[UNSC Commercial Fleet|merchant navy]], run by the [[UNSC Department of Commercial Shipping|Department of Commercial Shipping]].
{{Main|Mars Campaign}}
In the most spectacular offensive since the start of the bloody tripartite war, UN command adopted a military strategy long-forgotten throughout the peace-dominated period prior to the outbreak of the Jovian Moons Campaign in 2160 - the "Blitzkrieg"-style lightning ground assault. After capturing both Frieden and Koslovic forces on Mars, the UN delivered the first space-deployed contingent of the newly-established [[UNSC Marine Corps|Marines]] in December of [[2163]] on a mission to crush communist infantry encampments in the basin of [[Argyre Planitia]], marking a turning-point in space warfare through dedicated deployments of Marine forces in ground assaults and ship-[[Naval boarding|boarding]] operations that would follow during the war.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}


==Military==
The offensive was an incontestable success for the UN side. As a result, military theory and strategy implemented the use of Marines in high-priority missions as a baseline for successful operations, especially within the context of larger conflicts.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}
[[File:UNSC.jpg|right|thumb|200px|United Nations Space Command Defense Force emblem]]


===Defense===
However, the most important consequence of the anti-totalitarian campaign was of both political and military nature. The United Nations itself did not control a dedicated space military prior to the Mars Campaign, a lacking element which it would replace with a special emergency military force that would come to represent humanity's overall military might. In the wake of the success of the UNSC Marines on Mars, the UN used its growing influence to not only take control of Earth's national governments, but also absorb Earth's national military organizations into a single, organized force; the United Nations Space Command was created.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}
{{main|United Nations Space Command Defense Force}}
Defense of UEG colonies are run by the [[United Nations Space Command Defense Force]]. The Defense Force was involved heavily in the [[Human-Covenant War]].


The UNSCDF is run by the [[UNSC Security Council]], with the professional head being [[UNSC High Command]], based on [[Earth]]. Control is exercised through regional [[Central Command|CENTCOMs]], which have responsibility over certain areas of space.<ref>'''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]''', ''page 34''</ref> The Navy houses the divisions of [[UNSC Marine Corps]] (including the special forces branch of the UNSC Marines known as [[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]]), [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] (ONI), and the [[Fleet]]. The [[UNSC Army]] and [[UNSC Air Force]] maintain garrisons on colony worlds. When certain rebellious factions began to rise in the late [[2510]]s, the UNSC was forced to police its protected colonies tirelessly to keep privateers and pirates from raiding the colonies and any UNSC ships.
===Interplanetary War===
{{Main|Interplanetary War}}
As of [[2164]], psychological results of the campaign on Mars were formidable; civilian trust in the newly-formed UNSC military was boosted by massive televised propaganda, providing the UNSC with large waves of enthusiastic volunteers from all military services around the world. A sense of urgency, courage and hope helped UN forces scramble extraordinary divisions of Marines, infantry and fliers for a final campaign to annihilate remaining communist and fascist outposts and strongholds on Earth as well as throughout the inner planets and beyond Jupiter. The final campaign for peace lasted from 2164 to [[2170]] in a series of brutal crackdowns on Frieden and Koslovic hardliners. The result of this war gathered strong civilian support for some sort of powerful international military that could repel revolts and uprisings wherever they may occur. The UNSC emerged as the leading force to further those goals.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}


Unlike the Covenant, UNSC military technology is still based on comparatively primitive mechanisms - projectile weaponry, wheeled vehicles, and combustion engines. The UNSC's grasp of scientific concepts is far more advanced than the Covenant, but turning these concepts into functional machinery has proven more problematic. Recently, the UNSC has introduced a variety of Covenant-derived technologies into their arsenal: gravity plating aboard ships, [[energy shields]] to protect SPARTAN-II soldiers, and limited use of [[Directed Energy Weapons|directed energy weapons]], usually lasers, for example, the [[Weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle]] (SPARTAN Laser), though the Covenant still retain their technological advantage.
====UN victory====
Coincidentally, the war formally ended where it had begun: in the Jovian Moons. The [[Callisto Treaty]] was signed in 2170 by commanders of Koslovic and Frieden forces in the presence of [[United Nations colonial advisers|UN colonial authorities]], definitively ending the 10-year-long conflict with a victory of UNSC forces and democratic leadership.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}


UNSC starship weaponry is based around [[Archer Missile|missiles]] and [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]]s. Their technological inferiority in the face of the Covenant means that it was often necessary for the UNSC to have a three-to-one numerical advantage against them in ship-to-ship combat. The UNSC also possesses a weapon of mass destruction in the form of the [[NOVA bomb]].
[[2170]] saw the creation of the first multinational and multicolonial representation of democracy in outer space. Faced with concerns of overpopulation and starvation on Earth, consequently coupled with a looming destabilization of capitalist economy, the [[Unified Earth Government]]—up until then lacking concrete power—was formed into a full-fledged governing body in a time of cultural and military reconstruction.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}


The UNSC also appears to maintain a seaborne surface navy on planets with large bodies of water, such as Earth. At the very least, they had [[UNSC Aircraft Carrier|aircraft carriers]] available to provide air support in the form of [[Pelican Dropship|Pelicans]] and [[F99 Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle|F99 UCAVs]].
The brutal ten-year-long war put the spotlight on problems facing the overpopulated Earth, and the Rainforest Wars also exacerbated issues relating to food distribution; this, along with the UN overmilitarization that occurred during the war, presented immediate problems for the postwar United Nations Space Command. The ensuing famine and societal problems related to the postwar population boom provided the spark to change the political nature of governance on Earth and elsewhere, leading to widespread political reform.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}


{{UNSC Services}}
===The Colonial Era===
{{Main|Domus Diaspora|Human colonies|Inner Colonies|Outer Colonies}}
[[File:HM-DomusD 1.jpg|thumb|250px|A [[colony ship]] readying for departure during the ''Domus Diaspora''.]]
The pressures engendered by the Interplanetary War made space colonization seem more attractive in subsequent centuries, and the Unified Earth Government would sign off on the first large-scale interstellar colony ship program that was revealed in [[2310]] to ease the burden of an overpopulated Earth. This would not have been possible without the invention of the [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine]] in [[2291]], which allowed the ships to travel vast distances within a reasonable time by opening portals into [[Slipstream space]].{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}} At the same time, the UEG established a separate colonial governing body known as the [[Colonial Administration Authority]] as well as the [[Colonial Military Authority]], a dedicated military force to police the colonies.{{Ref/Book|H4EVG|Page=228}}


==Sphere of influence==
In [[2362]], the first colony ship, the ''[[Odyssey]]'', was launched, beginning the period of human history later known as the ''[[Domus Diaspora]]''.{{Ref/Book|HM|Page=52}} This initial colonization effort was concentrated in the [[Epsilon Eridani system]], which would later become one of the centers of humanity's interstellar empire.{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc11p42|Enc11|Page=42}} Vast numbers of citizens and soldiers elected to travel to these new colonies, stabilizing the overpopulation problem on Earth and giving the military new tasks to handle. As the first colonists are stringently selected, the Inner Colonies eventually formed an elite society of the best physical and mental human specimens. A core ring of 210 Inner Colonies were not fully developed until the end of the 24th century.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}
[[File:Halo Star Map V2.png|thumb|right|200px|An approximate map of significant UNSC systems.]]
{{Main
|1=:Category:UNSC Colonies
|l1=UNSC Colonies
}}


UNSC territory is known to encompass several dozen worlds in several star systems in the [[Orion Arm]] of the [[Milky Way Galaxy]], in various stages of colonization, from the well developed [[Inner Colonies]] to the relatively recent and struggling [[Outer Colonies]]. Thus far, 73 colonies have been referenced.
The apex of this colonization movement would come in [[2492]] when more then 800 worlds were inside UNSC territory, many of them targeted for human habitation. These settlements ranged from fairly well-tamed planetary strongholds to tiny hinterland settlements. During this period, the planet [[Reach]] (orbiting Epsilon Eridani, right on Earth's metaphorical doorstep) became the UNSC's primary naval yard and training academy. Reach was a major producer of warships and colony vessels, as well as a training ground for covert operatives and [[UNSC Special Forces|Special Forces]].{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}


The territory encompassed by the Inner Colonies seems to stretch in at least a 10.5-light year radius around Earth, and the Outer Colonies beyond that. By [[2468]], the outermost colony was Harvest, at eleven light years from Earth - later, colonies were founded well beyond in the Outer Colonies. The furthest known UNSC colony is [[Beta Centauri]], at 525 light years away.<ref name="Reach"/> Colonies may have been settled after Harvest, or founded during the Human-Covenant War.
Over the course of humanity's interstellar expansion, a number of alien artifacts were discovered; while unknown at the time, these were the works of a long-vanished civilization known as the [[Forerunner]]s. However, virtually all of these findings were discreetly concealed by the UNSC's [[Office of Naval Intelligence]], which exerted virtually complete control over the research and information flow about [[xenoarchaeology|xenoarchaeological]] discoveries. A noted example of this is [[Onyx]], originally surveyed as an ideal world for human settlement but declared off-limits by ONI due to the alien technology discovered there.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc11p42}}


The UNSC's galactic territories were greatly reduced by the [[Covenant]] during the Human-Covenant War, with only Earth and a few scattered colonies left mostly intact by the end of the War in 2552. Since the end of the conflict, the UNSC is working to restore its galactic territories and has even recolonized some of its lost worlds.  
===The Insurrection===
{{Main|Insurrection}}
By the final decade of the 25th century, a chain of [[Outer Colonies]] was providing the UEG with valuable raw materials; the political power, however, remained with the aforementioned Inner Colonies. These differences in wealth distribution and political power, led to new threats of secession from the outer territories. Over time, ideological and political causes resulted in many of the Outer Colonies engaging in open rebellion. A [[Insurrection|series of brushfire wars]] across human space sprang up, with hundreds more threatening to erupt as well. By [[2511]], UNSC estimates, largely based upon [[Carver Findings|the projections]] of [[Elias Carver|Dr. Elias Carver]], put massive, overwhelming, and uncontrollable rebellion at less than twenty years away.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}


===Colony systems, worlds, and cities===
Military conflicts began disrupting UNSC authority in the [[Outer Colonies]] where several uprisings among working-class agriculturalists and other social classes grew unhappy with the UNSC's largely inconsiderate governance. This unrest gave rise to the [[Insurrectionist]] movement, a loose collection of violent colonial separatists with the shared goal of liberating the Outer Colonies from the Unified Earth Government's influence.
{{col-begin}}
{{Clear}}
{{col-2}}
====Spartans====
'''[[Sol System]]'''
{{Main|Spartan}}
*'''[[Earth]]''' - Human Homeworld. Unsuccessfully attacked by Covenant.
[[File:HW-Red Team.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Spartan-II [[Red Team]] in MJOLNIR armor.]]
**[[Africa]]
Fearing the consequences of the possible breakup of their fledgling interstellar empire, while wishing to preserve as much infrastructure as possible, the United Earth Government would embark on a series of covert efforts to quickly and quietly deal with insurrections without incurring massive civilian casualties.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}
***[[Cairo (City)|Cairo]]
**[[East African Protectorate]]
***[[Republic of Kenya]]
****[[Mombasa]]
*****[[New Mombasa]]
*****[[Old Mombasa]]
****[[Voi]]
***[[United Republic of Tanzania]]
****[[Zanzibar Island]]
**[[Asia]]
***[[Micronesia]]
***[[China]]
***[[Japan]]
***[[Mongolia]]
***[[Pakistan]]
**[[Commonwealth of Australia]]
***[[Sydney|Sydney, Australia]]
**[[Diego Garcia]]
**[[Federal Republic of Germany]]
***[[Essen]]
**[[Korea]]
***[[Kyonggi Province]]
****[[Songnam]]
**[[Republic of Chile]]
**[[Republic of Cuba]]
***[[Havana]]
**[[Switzerland]]
**[[United Kingdom]]
***[[United Kingdom|England]]
****[[London]]
*****[[Islington]]
****[[Birmingham]]
****[[Doncaster]]
****[[Sheffield]]
****[[Bristol]]
****[[Cheshire]]
****[[Leeds]]
****[[Plymouth]]
****[[Portsmouth]]
****[[Reading]]
****[[Romford]]
****[[Scotland]]
****[[Edinburgh]]
**[[United Republic of North America]]
***[[Canada]]
***[[Mexico]]
****[[Mexico City]]
***[[United States of America]]
****[[New York]]
*****[[New York City]]
****[[New Jersey]]
*****[[Newark]]
****[[Cleveland|Cleveland, Ohio]]
****[[Oregon]]
*****[[Salem]]
****[[Illinois]]
****[[Indiana]]
****[[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]]
****[[Commonwealth of Kentucky]]
****[[Great Lakes]]
****[[Minnesota]]
****[[Wisconsin]]
**'''[[Luna]]''' - Natural orbiting satellite
***[[Luna OCS Academy]]
***[[Naniwa]]
****[[Crisium City]]
*'''[[Mars]]'''
**[[Chiron Test Station|Chiron]]
**[[Argyre Planitia]]
**[[Reyes-McLees Shipyards]]
**[[Katagalugan]]
***[[New Legaspi]]
***[[New Manila]]
**[[Seven Hills]]
***[[Losantiville]]
**[[Mare Erythraeum]]
*'''[[Jupiter]]'''
**[[Jovian Moons]]
***[[Jovian Moons|Callisto]]
***[[Ganymede]]
****[[Aigburth]]
*****[[Lister (City)|Lister]]
***[[Io]]
****[[Io Station]]
***[[Europa]]
{{col-2}}
'''[[Epsilon Eridani|Epsilon Eridani System]]'''
*'''[[Reach]]''' - Primary military installation. Glassed by Covenant in [[2552]]; resettled by [[2589]].
**[[Highland Mountains]]
**[[CASTLE Base]]
**[[Camp Hathcock]]
**[[Camp Independence]]
**[[Fairchild Field]]
**[[HighCom Armory Omega]]
**[[Military Reservation 01478-B]]
**[[Military Wilderness Training Preserve]]
**[[ODG Facility A-331]]
**[[Olympic Tower]]
**[[Reach Station Gamma]]
**[[Reach Naval Academy]]
*'''[[Beta Gabriel]]''' - Partially occupied by the Covenant
*'''[[Tribute]]''' - Attacked, most likely glassed
**[[Casbah]]
**[[Ibrid]]
*'''[[Circumstance]]''' - Unknown Status
**[[Kuiper]]
**[[Mira]]
*'''[[Epsilon Eridani IV]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[Tantalus]]''' - Unknown Status


'''[[111 Tauri System]]'''
Before the UNSC expanded its forays into [[biological augmentation]] to create successful Special Forces programs in the 26th century, the [[Colonial Military Authority]] experimented with a prototype Special Forces project in the 24th century that tested the effects of bioaugmentations on [[UNSC Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] and [[UNSC Navy|Navy]] personnel. The experiments proved ineffective and were formally canceled as a result, marking the first attempt to create a specialized force of covert-warfare operators in response to insurgent outbursts within the domain of the Unified Earth Government.
*'''[[Victoria]]''' - Unknown Status


'''[[23 Librae|23 Librae System]]'''
Due to increasing risk of insurrectionist activity in the late 25th century, the UNSC's [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] conceived a project to train Special Forces soldiers in counter-insurgent and counter-revolutionary warfare. The ORION Project, retroactively termed as Spartan-I, was an [[UNSC Special Forces|Naval Special Warfare]] program, overseen by the CMA, created to train special advanced warfare squads to combat the Insurrection. They became experts in counterinsurgency operations, assassinations, raids, and eliminating high value targets—all considered black operations.<ref name="HCH">'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''', ''Prologue''</ref> However, expectations for the new soldiers were not met, and the project was deactivated in 2506, and all members reassigned to other Special Operations units.<ref>'''Halo Wars''' ''Timeline''</ref> In the coming years, ORION's methodologies would be uses as basis for a reform in the [[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]],<ref>'''Halo: Reach''', [[Data pads#Data pad 11|''data pad 11'']]</ref> the most famed special operations force of the UNSC Marines.
*'''[[Madrigal]]''' - Glassed in [[2528]]
**[[Castra]]
***[[Castra Arcology]]


'''[[26 Draconis System]]'''
Several years later, ONI's alarming projections on colonial instability prompted them to initiate a second generation supersoldier project which would come to be known as the [[SPARTAN-II program]]. Partly informed by the pioneering efforts of ORION with new methodologies conceived by [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Catherine Halsey]], the new program introduced highly unethical aspects such as the covert conscription of mentally and physically gifted children who would be molded into the perfect instruments to quell insurgent leadership and thus prevent the predicted scenario of indefinite all-out war. [[SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures|Physically augmented]] and equipped with state-of-the-art [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor|MJOLNIR powered armor]], the Spartan-IIs would prove to be the most effective soldiers fielded by the UNSC, although not in the role they were originally intended for; the attack of the genocidal [[Covenant]] quickly saw the Spartans reallocated to combat the new enemy.<ref>''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]''</ref>
*'''[[Levosia]]''' - Unknown Status


'''[[Charybdis System]]'''
During the Covenant War, the success of the Spartan-IIs would convince the ONI leadership to use similar methodologies to create hundreds of supersoldiers in the [[SPARTAN-III program]]. Despite various refinements in their training and augmentation processes, most of the Spartan-IIIs would be less well-equipped than their predecessors for budgetary reasons, and the majority of them would ultimately perish on strategically important, high-risk deployments.<ref>'''Halo Mythos''', ''page 76''</ref> Following the end of the war, the [[SPARTAN-IV program]] marked a return to ORION's recruitment protocols, drawing candidates from the UNSC's extant military forces; additionally, technological advances and the relegation of equipment manufacturing to the private sector allowed each operator to be issued with the previously prohibitively expensive Mjolnir armor. With Spartans being created in increasing numbers, their presence across UNSC-controlled space would become far more established and publicized in the years that followed than ever before.<ref>'''Halo Mythos''', ''page 128''</ref>
*'''[[Charybdis IX]]''' - Glassed
**[[Scyllion]]


'''[[Chi Ceti System]]'''
===Human-Covenant War===
*'''[[Chi Ceti 4]]''' - Unknown Status
{{main|Human-Covenant War}}
**[[Damascus Testing Facility]]
[[File:Halopedia Era UNSC.png|90px|thumb|left|The [[Symbols of the UNSC|UNSC Eagle, Globe, and Banner]].<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/cosplay-guide-the-rookie ''Halo Waypoint'' - Cosplay Guide: The Rookie]</ref>]]
[[2525]] marked the most important turning point in human history. It would mark the beginning of the great technological advancement, the unification of a divided and fractured human race, and the [[First Battle of Harvest|first contact]] between humanity and extraterrestrial intelligence; the [[Covenant]]. It would also see a majority of the UNSC's colony worlds destroyed, with billions killed by orbital plasma bombardment, a technique latter known as [[glassing]]. The most important war in the history of the human race began with a disastrous first contact at the distant colony of [[Harvest]].


'''[[Cygnus System]]'''
By this time, the UNSC overrode the UEG, and thus became the central civilian authority throughout its territory and Earth itself. Although the central government was more willing to step down given the magnitude of the crisis, the [[Colonial Administration Authority]] was far more reluctant. As a result, the UNSC stripped it of most of its power. By the middle to late stages of the war, the government of humanity could be accurately described as an "emergency military" force.{{clear}}
*'''[[New Jerusalem]]''' - Attacked, most likely glassed


'''[[Ectanus 45|Ectanus 45 System]]'''
====First contact====
*'''[[Chi Rho]]''' - Unknown Status
{{Main|First Battle of Harvest}}
[[File:HWG SecondBattleOfHarvest.png|thumb|250px|Admiral Cole's victory at Harvest.]]
Stemming from the chance encounter of human and Covenant forces at [[Harvest]], the first contact made between humanity and the Covenant involved the ship ''[[Minor Transgression]]'', and was less peaceful than the second contact made between the two factions. A meeting between representatives of the two factions took place on the fields of Harvest, but the attempt at diplomacy soon turned into a bloodbath. The Covenant claimed the planet for the numerous "[[Forerunner]] relics" their [[Luminary|luminaries]] had detected, and slaughtered most of the colony's population.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}} The vast majority of the Covenant remained unaware that the humans they were sworn to annihilate, were in fact the very [[Reclaimer]]s (mistranslated as "Reclamation") their ancient texts spoke of.<ref>''Halo: Contact Harvest'', p. 274-278</ref>


'''[[Epsilon Indi System]]'''
On April 20, a scout ship, the CMA sent in a scout ship, the ''[[CMA Argo|Argo]]'', to investigate the cessation of communications between Harvest and the rest of the UEG's colonies. Before being destroyed by Covenant forces, it discovered that the planet had been incinerated, and its surface covered by fields of magma. Soon after, [[Battle Group 4]], consisting of the frigates [[CMA Arabia|CMA ''Arabia'']] and [[CMA Vostok|''Vostok'']] and the [[UNSC destroyer|destroyer]] [[CMA Heracles|CMA ''Heracles'']], were sent to investigate. On October 7, the battle group dropped out of Slipspace and to Harvest. In orbit around the remains of the colony world was a single alien ship which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying them all except one. Intercepted communications identified the enemy as the Covenant, a caste-driven, theological organization made up of several alien species. The message "''Your destruction is the will of the gods...and we are their instrument''" was broadcast in perfect [[English]].<ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', Chapter 11, ''page 98'' (2001 paperback); ''page 117'' (2010 paperback)</ref> The war for mankind's very survival had begun.
*'''[[Harvest]]''' - Glassed in [[2525]], recaptured by UNSC in [[2531]]
**[[Utgard]]
**[[Gladsheim]]


'''[[Eridanus System]]'''
[[File:Covenant assault - 2.png|thumb|left|250px|The Covenant invade a population center on a human world.]]
*'''[[Eridanus II]]''' - Glassed in [[2530]]
Since the later [[Second Battle of Harvest]] in [[2526]], where an [[Battle Group X-Ray|enormous human fleet]] led by [[Vice Admiral]] [[Preston Cole]] barely won against a [[Rasus-pattern interdictor|single Covenant ship]] in a symbolic "victory", the UNSC's grip on their territories declined significantly. While the UNSC fought a formidable defensive action against the Covenant's onslaught, the Covenant's technological superiority in space overwhelmed humanity's naval defenses. Over the next 27 years, the Covenant had managed to destroy nearly all of the [[Outer Colonies]], and a portion of the [[Inner Colonies]].{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}} Recognizing that it was fighting a losing battle against a superior enemy, the UNSC adopted and enforced the [[Cole Protocol]], drafted by Admiral Cole to ensure that the Covenant never learned the location of Earth as the war continued to spread into human space.
**[[Elysium City]]
**[[Luxor Spaceport]]
**[[Lake Gusev]]


'''[[Groombridge-1830]]'''
The UNSC's military victories against the Covenant were few and far between, with Admiral Cole winning a decisive victory against the Covenant at the [[Battle of Psi Serpentis]] in [[2543]], destroying an entire enemy fleet at the cost of his own life. Behind the scenes, humanity began to extensively reverse-engineer technology recovered from both the Forerunners and the Covenant in a bid to bridge the gap between the Covenant and humanity's technological advancement. The deployment of the [[Spartan-II program|Spartan-II supersoldiers]] proved devastating to the Covenant and enabled the UNSC to stave off several major Covenant offensive operations. However, the Covenant's encroachment of human space continued largely unabated, and the ongoing war of attrition took a toll on the UNSC's offensive capability as the threat to Earth's survival drew closer.
*'''Unnamed Colony''' - Unsuccessfully attacked by Covenant


'''[[Groombridge 34 System]]'''
====RED FLAG and Halo====
*'''[[Station Delphi]]''' - Unknown Status
{{Main|Operation: RED FLAG|Fall of Reach|Battle of Installation 04}}
[[File:Autumn Arrival.png|thumb|250px|{{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} arrives at Installation 04.]]
By [[2552]] the UNSC, outnumbered and outgunned, had nonetheless managed to slow the Covenant's inexorable progress through human space. However, the situation remained dire. In desperation, [[UNSC High Command|HIGHCOM]] ordered a [[Operation: RED FLAG|high-risk operation]], sending the SPARTAN-II supersoldiers to insert into Covenant space, capture one or more high-ranking [[San'Shyuum|Prophet]], and return to UNSC space. With such valuable hostages, the UNSC would then attempt to ransom these leaders for a truce. Before the operation began, the Covenant [[Fall of Reach|found and destroyed]] the fortress world of [[Reach]], destroying a large portion of the UNSC's military forces, inadvertently stopping the operation and, seemingly, killing most of the Spartans.{{Ref/Reuse|xbox}}


'''[[Hellespont System]]'''
A single ship, the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} managed to escape the planet, with one active Spartan on board; [[John-117|Master Chief John-117]]. The ship followed coordinates derived by the AI [[Cortana]] to a [[Forerunner]] ringworld known as [[Halo Array|Halo]] [[Installation 04]]. There, John-117 encountered a parasitic lifeform known as the [[Flood]], which Halo had been built to eliminate by destroying all life in the galaxy. John-117 destroyed the ring before it could be fired by detonating the [[Fusion drive|reactors]] of the ''Pillar of Autumn''. After hijacking a [[Ascendant Justice|Covenant flagship]], the Spartan reunited with the survivors from Installation 04 and the destruction of Reach. This small band of soldiers attacked a force of Covenant ships in [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]], one of the most successful UNSC operations against the Covenant in the entire war.
*'''[[Troy]]''' - Glassed in [[2537]]
*'''[[Harmony]]''' - Glassed in 2537
*'''[[New Harmony]]''' - Unsuccessfully attacked by Covenant


'''[[Hydra System]]''' - Unknown Status
====Final months====
{{Main|Battle of Earth|Battle of Installation 05|Battle of Installation 00}}
[[File:H2A - BattleofEarth.png|thumb|left|250px|The [[UNSC Home Fleet]] engages the Covenant over Earth.]]
Starting [[2552#September|September 5, 2552]], all remaining naval assets were recalled to Earth and amalgamated into a single command grouping under the [[UNSC Home Fleet|Home Fleet]] in preparation for an impending Covenant invasion.{{Ref/Generic|Id=NRA|Heading=[[Halo Legendary Crate]]|Subheading=[[Halo Legendary Crate/Data Drops|Data Drop #2]]|Detail=[[:File:LC 002 Doc 3.jpg|Naval Records Archives]]}}


'''[[Jericho System]]''' - Unknown Status
By [[2552#October|October of 2552]], an estimated twenty-three billion civilians were killed since the dawn of the Human-Covenant War,<ref>'''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''', "[[Palace Hotel]]", ''page 358''</ref> and the Covenant haphazardly discovered the position of the human homeworld, Earth, and sent a [[Fleet of Sacred Consecration|preliminary task force]] there, believing it to be the location of the [[Installation 00|Ark]], an ancient Forerunner relic. They encountered staunch resistance, and were initially fended off as soon as more Covenant reinforcements continued to arrive in-system days and weeks after the [[Battle of Mombasa|initial invasion]].{{Ref/Film|Id=Oct20|Film=Halo Waypoint|Story=Ten Twenty|StoryLinkText=Ten Twenty}}{{Ref/Level|Id=H2Metro|H2|Metropolis}}{{Ref/Generic|Id=FTH|Heading=[[Halo Legendary Crate]]|Subheading=[[Halo Legendary Crate/Data Drops|Data Drop #2]]|Detail=[[:File:LC 002 Doc 1.jpg|First Twelve Hours]]}} Further complications arose from the political and religious crisis that emerged in the wake of a UNSC operation to [[Assassination of the Prophet of Regret|assassinate]] the [[Prophet of Regret]], and the [[Changing of the Guard|secession]] of the [[Sangheili]] from the hegemony, leading to the [[Great Schism]].{{Ref/Level|Id=deltahalo|H2|Delta Halo}}{{Ref/Reuse|gravemind}} Overnight, the Covenant was thrown into chaos.{{Ref/Level|Id=gravemind|H2|[[Gravemind (level)|Gravemind]]}} Nevertheless, by November, the forces loyal to the [[Prophet of Truth]] had already subjugated large parts of Africa since its arrival shortly after Regret's departure from Earth by attempting to excavate a long-buried [[Portal at Voi|large Forerunner structure]].{{Ref/Level|Id=H3RCoast|ODST|Coastal Highway}} Later, Truth took the majority of remaining Covenant loyalist fleets with him after he departed aboard the Forerunner [[keyship]] ''[[Anodyne Spirit]]'' for Earth.{{Ref/Novel|Novel=[[Halo: Broken Circle]] (Google Books)|Page=286|Quote=He has taken what is left of the Covenant fleets and is heading for the human world, Earth. He is seeking the Ark.|Quotee=[[G'torik 'Klemmee]]}} Upon their arrival in the [[Sol system]], the final Covenant fleets devastated much of the planet, mostly via [[orbital bombardment]], after routing the numerically-inferior [[UNSC Home Fleet|Home Fleet]] on November 17.{{Ref/Level|Id=Truthfleet|H3|Crow's Nest|Quote=The Prophet of Truth's ships breached the Lunar perimeter. Smashed what was left of the Home Fleet. Terrestrial casualties from the subsequent bombardment were... extreme.}} Only the [[Battle Group Victory|offensive]] led by [[Commander]] [[Miranda Keyes]] through the [[Portal at Voi|Forerunner portal]] uncovered in [[Africa]], and the help of the [[Sangheili]] [[Fleet of Retribution|fleet]] prevented the eventual destruction of the UNSC and Earth itself.{{Ref/Level|Id=TheCovenant|H3|[[The Covenant (level)|The Covenant]]}}


'''[[Lambda Aurigae System]]'''
The UNSC and [[Fleet of Retribution|their Sangheili allies]] launched a joint operation to destroy the Covenant once and for all at the Ark. Fighting against a [[Truth's fleet|massive Covenant fleet]] (3:1 numerical superiority in space), and even greater forces garrisoned on the Ark, the allies were able to stop Truth from firing the Halo Array.{{Ref/Level|Id=TheArk|H3|The Ark}} In addition, the Sangheili known as [[Thel 'Vadam|the Arbiter]] killed Truth, the Covenant's last remaining leader, while SPARTAN-117, leading the ground effort to destroy the Covenant's remaining forces, deactivated the Halo Array before the Halo installations could be fired.{{Ref/Reuse|TheCovenant}} On March 3, [[2553]], the Human-Covenant War officially ended in a victory for the UNSC and the Sangheili, but at a high price.{{Ref/Level|Id=halo3epilogue|H3|[[Epilogue (Halo 3)|Epilogue]]}} Most major military outposts, along with countless colonies had been destroyed. Earth, despite the loss of billions to orbital bombardment,{{Ref/Reuse|Id=Truthfleet}} remained battered but standing.
*'''[[Roost]]''' - Unknown Status
{{Clear}}


'''[[Lambda Serpentis System]]'''
===Reconstruction and new conflicts===
*'''[[Jericho VII]]''' - Glassed in [[2535]]
{{Main|Post-Covenant War conflicts}}
{{Quote|For too many years, humanity was on the backfoot. Reacting to threats, rather than preventing them. Rest of the galaxy was bigger than us. Stronger than us. We were [[Rodent|mice]], hiding in the shadows, hoping the giants would not see us. No more. Humanity is no longer on the defense. ''We'' are the giants now.|[[Captain (Navy)|Captain]] [[Thomas Lasky]]<ref>'''Halo 4''', ''[[Infinity (mode)|Infinity]]'' introductory cinematic</ref>}}
[[File:UNSC insignia (post-war).png|90px|thumb|Following the war, UNSC branding was reworked. The new logo is bold, strong, and ascendant.<ref name="new symbol">[http://halo.xbox.com/blogs/Headlines/post/2012/07/25/The-Halo-Bulletin-72512.aspx ''The Halo Bulletin - 7.25.12''] (Defunct copy on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120730133146/http://halo.xbox.com/blogs/Headlines/post/2012/07/25/The-Halo-Bulletin-72512.aspx Wayback Machine])</ref>]]


'''[[Leonis Minoris]]''' - Three colonies, two glassed in [[2537]]
The UNSC transferred its emergency governing functions back to the UEG on [[2553|January 8, 2553]], although this formal shift of power did not significantly diminish the UNSC's practical authority.<ref name="CatalogUEG">[https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_postsm2969317_Catalog-Interaction.aspx#post2969317 '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Catalog Interaction (Query Answer: Human records indicate transition to noncombatant administrative control <nowiki>[ref: UEG] [January 8, 2553]. No notable adjustment in military [bureaucratic tactical]</nowiki> behavior and scope of authority.)'']</ref>


'''[[Luyten 726-8]]'''
Since 2553, the UNSC has engaged in an extensive period of reconstruction in order to restore stability to the shattered remnants of its territory. The UNSC has moved to reclaim those worlds that were not completely destroyed during the Human-Covenant War. Former colonies such as [[Eridanus II]],{{Ref/Map|H4|[[Skyline]]}} [[Meridian]] and [[Draco III]] were resettled and became strategic staging points for humanity's efforts to reunite its reach across space.<ref>'''Halo: New Blood''', ''pages 17-18'' (Google Play edition)</ref> New planets such as [[Oban]] have also been colonized for the purpose of resettling the countless millions of [[refugee]]s whose worlds were lost in the conflict. The UNSC also aimed to [[Salvaging|salvage]] any recoverable military assets lost during the war; paying companies such as [[Warner & Ives]] to [[Fetching|recover]] slipspace drives from derelict vessels, and buying scrap from clearing house auctions, such as those in [[New Tyne]] on the planet [[Venezia]].<ref>'''[[Halo: Fractures]]''', ''[[Into the Fire]], page 301''</ref> With the genocidal threat of the Covenant ended, the UNSC has employed some of its former species including [[Unggoy]] and [[Huragok]] in a limited capacity. The UNSC also maintains its earlier [[Treaty of 2552|peace treaty]] with the [[Swords of Sanghelios]] under the leadership of [[Arbiter]] [[Thel 'Vadam]]. In [[2553]] the [[Joint Occupation Zone]]s were created and are now governed by both the UNSC and the Sangheili, with former colonies such as [[Carrow]] now hosting new citizens from both sides. The UNSC has also established outposts around the Halo Array and other such Forerunner installations, which they closely monitor with the Sangheili. However, tensions remain as insurrectionist movements have grown in strength, with worlds like [[Venezia]] and [[Gao]] effectively having seceded from the UEG as recently as 2553.<ref>''Halo: Glasslands''</ref><ref>''[[Halo: Last Light]]''</ref> In early 2553, the Office of Naval Intelligence began authorizing operations to sow dissent among the Sangheili, disregarding the alliance in the hopes of rendering them unable to fight should they become a threat again. These actions culminated in a [[Blooding Years|civil war]] between the Arbiter's forces and those who opposed the alliance with humanity.<ref>''Halo: The Thursday War''</ref>
*'''[[Luyten]]'''
**[[Newport]]
**[[Old Willem]]


'''[[Paris System]]'''
[[File:Commissioning-1.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The commissioning of {{UNSCShip|Infinity}}.<ref>''[[The Commissioning]]''</ref>]]
*'''[[Paris IV]]''' - Glassed
In spite of the catastrophic damage UNSC's infrastructure and personnel suffered during the Covenant War, various secret projects initiated in the final years of the conflict enabled the UNSC to regain some degree of military power in the months after the cessation of hostilities.<ref>''Halo Mythos'', ''page 125''</ref> To symbolize their newly regained strength, the UNSC adopted [[Symbols of the UNSC|a revised version of its original emblem]] shortly after the war.{{Ref/Reuse|new symbol}} The UNSC's rebuilding efforts were spearheaded by the symbolic commissioning of the UNSC's most powerful warship, the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}}, in February 2557. A dramatic modernization of the UNSC's military assets has been ongoing, with new warships implementing both Covenant and Forerunner technologies for use against humanity's enemies. While the reconstruction of humanity's territories continued for many years after the end of the Covenant War, various [[Covenant remnants]], most prominently [[Jul 'Mdama's Covenant|a group led by Jul 'Mdama]], defied the truce between humans and Sangheili and arose to threaten the UNSC. In July [[2557]], the [[Post-Covenant War conflicts|ongoing conflict]] against the new Covenant was joined by the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]] and his [[Promethean]] constructs due to [[Battle of Requiem|an encounter]] on the shield world [[Requiem]].<ref name="h4">''[[Halo 4]]''</ref>


'''[[Procyon|Procyon System]]'''
===Created uprising===
*'''[[Arcadia]]''' - Glassed in [[2549]]
{{Main|Created uprising}}
{{Quote|The UNSC is gone!|[[Warmaster]] [[Atriox]] to [[Cortana]] during [[Battle for Zeta Halo]].{{Ref/Level|HI|Silent Auditorium}}}}


'''[[Sigma Octanus System]]'''
Following October 28, [[2558]] the UNSC was largely immobilized by the [[Created]] when Cortana and her [[Guardian]]s took over Earth and most human colonies.<ref name="H5G">'''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]'''</ref> UNSC expeditionary forces that managed to avoid the Created's Guardians were able to regroup with the Swords of Sanghelios on Sanghelios.<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/canon-fodder-driving-force''Halo Waypoint'' - Canon Fodder: Driving Force]</ref>
*'''[[Sigma Octanus IV]]''' - Unsuccessfully attacked by Covenant
**[[Côte d'Azur]]


'''[[Zeta Doradus System]]'''
Already crippled by the Created and fleeing, the UNSC's flagship, {{UNSCShip|Infinity}}, and several other ships were [[Battle for Installation 07|defeated]] by the [[Banished]] at [[Installation 07]] in [[2559]].{{Ref/Level|HI|[[Warship Gbraakon]]}} What remains of the UNSC is scattered across human space in disconnected pockets, without the ability to effect much change or communicate back to Earth.{{Ref/Book|Enc22|Page=17}}
*'''[[Onyx]]''' - Disintegrated, [[Micro Dyson Sphere|slipspace-based core]] still intact
**[[Camp Currahee]]
**[[Zone 67]]


{{col-end}}
===Later history===
{{col-begin}}
By [[2589]], the former UNSC stronghold of [[Reach]] had been re-terraformed and resettled.{{Ref/Level|HR|[[Lone Wolf]]}}
{{col-2}}
'''Other Colonies'''
*'''[[Algolis]]''' - Attacked, most likely glassed
*'''[[Ariel]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[Asmara]]''' - Attacked, most likely glassed
*'''[[Atlas Moons]]''' - Still held by UNSC
*'''[[Ballast]]''' - Unsuccessfully attacked by Covenant
*'''[[Beta Centauri]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[Biko]]''' - Glassed in [[2525]]
**[[Durban]]
*'''[[Bliss]]''' - Glassed in [[2526]]
**[[Manikata]]
*'''[[Coral]]''' - Attacked in [[2552]], most likely glassed
*'''[[Crystal]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[Cyrus VII]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[Draco III]]''' - Glassed
**[[Lombard]]
***[[Karnak]]
***[[New Albany]]
*'''[[Dwarka]]''' - Glassed
*'''[[Emerald Cove]]''' - Abandoned in [[2542]]
*'''[[Eirene]]''' - Glassed
*'''[[Far Isle]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[Fumirole]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[Gilgamesh]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[Green Hills]]''' - Glassed in [[2525]]
*'''[[Hat Yai]]''' - Glassed in [[2528]] or [[2529]]
*'''[[Hellas]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[Kholo]]''' - Glassed
*'''[[Mamore]]''' - Still held by UNSC
*'''[[Minister]]''' - Still held by UNSC
*'''[[Miridem]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[New Constantinople]]''' - Glassed
*'''[[Oasis 6]]''' - Unknown status
*'''[[Paradise Falls]]''' - Unknown Status
**[[Lazy Acres]]
*'''[[Sargasso]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[Second Base]]''' - Glassed in [[2525]]
*'''[[Skopje]]''' - Glassed in [[2547]]
*'''[[Verent]]''' - Unknown Status
*'''[[Verge]]''' - Conquered, stripmined for [[Helium|helium-3]]
**[[Cuidad de Arias]]
{{col-2}}
'''[[UNSC bases]]'''
*'''[[Fort York]]'''
*'''[[Fort Deen]]'''
*'''[[Roosevelt Military Base]]'''
*'''[[Crow's Nest (Base)|Crow's Nest]]'''
*'''[[Firebase Bravo]]'''<ref name="Reach"/>
*'''[[Camp Hathcock]]'''<ref name="Reach"/>
*'''[[Camp Independence]]'''<ref>'''[[Halo: First Strike]]'''</ref>
*'''[[Chawla Base]]'''<ref>'''[[I Love Bees]]'''</ref>
*'''[[Diego Garcia]]'''<ref name="H2">'''[[Halo 2]]'''</ref>
*'''[[Base Segundo Terra|Segundo Terra]]'''<ref name="Ghost">'''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]'''</ref>
*'''[[Camp Currahee]]'''<ref name="Ghost"/>
*'''[[Outpost C9]]'''<ref name="H2"/>
*'''[[Rat's Nest]]'''
*'''[[Sword Base (Location)|Sword Base]]'''
*'''[[Unnamed Sabre Launch Facility]]'''
{{col-end}}


==Nations==
==Military assets==
Information suggests that at least some nations on Earth and other planetary bodies still exist and probably maintained their independence at least partially despite the global unification that was performed by the [[United Nations]] and Unified Earth Government in the 22nd century during the Interplanetary War. However, these may have just been administrative divisions, or they may have retained some form of self government while being in the UEG. At some point all of these were annexed into the UEG.
===Technology===
{{col-begin}}
{{Main|Human#Technology|l1=Human technology|UNSC Navy#Equipment|l2=UNSC Naval technology}}
{{col-2}}
By the time the Covenant War began, humanity, and thus the UNSC, had reached [[Technological Achievement Tiers|Tier 3]] of the [[Forerunner]] civilization rank system. Humanity's rank continued to rise due to the capture of Covenant technology and equipment, which was studied and adapted for human needs. The very best and cutting edge of UNSC equipment was supplied to the SPARTAN-II project. Human technology was innovative, rather than reverse-engineered from Forerunner technology. This meant humanity remained flexible in their technical expertise, despite being hundreds of years behind the Covenant.<ref>''Halo: The Flood'', p. 132</ref> One such example of ingenuity was the [[energy shielding]] technology adapted and improved for use on the [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor|MJOLNIR armor]].
'''[[Asia]]'''
*[[Micronesia]]
*[[China]]
*[[Japan]]
*[[Mongolia]]
*[[Pakistan]]
*[[Korea]]
'''[[Africa]]'''
*[[East African Protectorate]]
**[[Republic of Kenya]]
**[[United Republic of Tanzania]]
'''Oceania'''
*[[Commonwealth of Australia]]
'''Americas'''
*[[Republic of Cuba]]
*[[Republic of Chile]]
*[[United Republic of North America]]
**[[Canada]]
**[[Mexico]]
**[[United States of America]]
{{col-2}}
'''Europe'''
*[[Switzerland]]
*[[United Kingdom]]
**[[United Kingdom|England]]
**[[Scotland]]
*[[Federal Republic of Germany]]
*[[Ireland]]
'''[[Katagalugan]]'''
*[[New Legaspi]]
*[[New Manila]]
'''[[Ganymede]]'''
*[[Aigburth]]
{{Col-end}}


==Public perception==
==Public perception==
===Allegations of fascism===
[[File:H4FUD UNSCTodayTomorrowForever.jpg|thumb|A UNSC propaganda poster on display at the Corbulo Academy of Military Science.]]
The UNSC's pre-[[Human-Covenant War|Covenant War]] and wartime policies are widely accepted with hostility among the civilian populace, especially within rebel movements. Starting with the implementation of the [[Cole Protocol]] and martial law, the UNSC's political takeover of the [[UEG]] and [[CMA]] branches and its generally authoritarian military policies championed over the course of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC's public image has been stained by rebel and civilian allegations of [[fascism]], totalitarianism and oppression.<ref>'''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''', ''[[Mombasa Streets]]''</ref><ref>'''[[Halo: The Cole Protocol]]''', ''page ??''</ref> However, these claims are unsubstantiated, as there are no comprehensive indications into the UNSC's structure that could suggest it following a totalitarian, state corporatist and social interventionist political system.
{{Quote|We are UNSC! Today. Tomorrow. Forever.|General [[Daniel Black]] quoting the poem [[Forward Unto Dawn (poem)|"Forward Unto Dawn"]] in a [[Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn: Recruitment|UNSC recruitment video]].<ref name=recruit>''[[Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn: Recruitment]]''</ref>}}
The UNSC's pre-[[Human-Covenant War|Covenant War]] and wartime policies were viewed with hostility by the civilian populace, especially within rebel movements. Starting with the implementation of the [[Cole Protocol]] and martial law, the UNSC's political takeover of the [[UEG]] and [[CMA]] branches and its generally authoritarian military policies championed over the course of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC's public image has been stained by rebel and civilian allegations of [[fascism]], totalitarianism and oppression.<ref name="mombasastreets">''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'', [[Mombasa Streets]]</ref><ref>''[[Halo: The Cole Protocol]]'', p. ??</ref>  
 
These allegations are not completely baseless, considering most of this perceived UNSC-directed oppression lies with poor administration in the [[Outer Colonies]], which has led to violent [[Scyllion Warehouse District Riot|food riots]] perpetrated by proto-rebellious groups of dissatisfied colonial workers suffering from hunger and poverty at the hands of corporate planetary control.<ref>''[[Halo: The Cole Protocol]]'', p. 106-107</ref>


These allegations are not completely baseless, however, considering most of this perceived UNSC-directed oppression lies with poor administration in the [[Outer Colonies]], which has led to violent [[Scyllion Warehouse District Riot|food riots]] perpetrated by proto-rebellious groups of dissatisfied colonial workers suffering from hunger and poverty at the hands of corporate planetary control.<ref>'''[[Halo: The Cole Protocol]]''', ''pages 106-107''</ref>
The UNSC also limits the freedom of the press to an extent, a measure put in place by ONI's Section Two after the [[Inner Colony Wars]]—allegedly to prevent humanity from tearing itself apart from within.<ref>'''[[Halo Graphic Novel]]''', ''[[Second Sunrise over New Mombasa]]''</ref> ONI also exerts almost complete control over information about [[xenoarchaeology|xenoarchaeological]] findings;{{Ref/Reuse|Enc11p42}} any scientists studying alien artifacts are drafted to serve under ONI's supervision.<ref>'''Halo: Evolutions''', ''"[[From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal]]"''</ref> Nepotism is notably prevalent within the organization,<ref>[[:File:MajesticBio-Madsen.png|Spartan Madsen's biography]]</ref><ref>'''Halo: Escalation''', ''Issue #5''</ref> sometimes openly; [[Corbulo Academy of Military Science]] was based around the concept of training the offspring of high-ranked military and government officials as commissioned officers.<ref>'''[[Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn]]'''</ref>


==UNSC laws==
==Production notes==
{{Main|UNSC Laws}}
During the [[Development of Halo: Combat Evolved|development]] of ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'', one working name for the UNSC was the UNSF - or United Nations Space Force.{{Ref/Twitter|joestaten|1010437502501572608|Joseph Staten|Quote=Now seems like the right time to bring up the fact that one of the working titles for the #Halo U.N.S.C. was the U.N.S.F. or “Space Force”. But we decided that sounded a little too sci-fi silly. #GoAirForce|D=10|M=05|Y=2023}}


==Trivia==
==Trivia==
*The UNSC is the navigation and military arm of the Unified Earth Government and the Colonial Administration Authority, thus it did not administrate the colonies without the consensus of the CAA or the UEG before the Human-Covenant War.
{{Other languages
*In real life, UNSC is an acronym for the [[wikipedia:United Nations Security Council|United Nations Security Council]]. Additionally, the United Nations Space Command Marine Corps has an ostensible inspiration from the real world [[USMC]], the United States Marine Corps.
|fr={{Tooltip|''Commandement Spatial des Nations Unies''|Space Command of the United Nations}} (''CSNU'') in ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', in the ''Halo'' novels until ''Halo: The Cole Protocol'', and in ''Halo Legends''.<br>
*The majority of UNSC ground and transport vehicles are nicknamed after animals that live on the planet Earth, such as the [[Dropship-77 Heavy Troop Carrier/Infantry Pelican|Pelican]], the [[M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle|Mongoose]], [[M312 Heavy Recovery Vehicle|Elephant]], [[M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle|Warthog]], [[M808B Main Battle Tank|Scorpion]], the [[Albatross]], and the [[Hornet]].
{{Tooltip|''United Nations Space Command''|(Anglicism)}} (''UNSC'') in almost all media since ''Halo 2''.<br>
*The UNSC fighters and bombers, the [[Sabre]], [[Longsword-class Starfighter|Longsword]], and [[Shortsword-class Bomber|Shortsword]], are named after sword types.
|es=Full name: {{Tooltip|''Comando Espacial de las Naciones Unidas''}}<br>
*The UNSC's armed forces, the [[United Nations Space Command Defense Force|UNSCDF]], is similar to that of the present-day [[Wikipedia:US military|United States Armed Forces]], including its medical and science divisions.
Acronym: {{Tooltip|''CENU''}}
|de=Full name: {{Tooltip|''Weltraumkommando der Vereinten Nationen''}}<br>
Acronym: {{Tooltip|''WVN''}}
|it=Full name: {{Tooltip|''Comando Spaziale Terrestre''}}<br>
Acronym: {{Tooltip|''CST''}}
}}
*In reality, "UNSC" is an acronym for the [[wikipedia:United Nations Security Council|United Nations Security Council]]. The BBC accidentally once used a Halo UNSC logo in a broadcast about the United Nations Security Council.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYIDjyVneqU '''YouTube''': ''BBC News FAIL - claims Halo logo is for United Nations Security Command (Newswatch, 1.6.12)'']</ref> The video on the BBC website was quickly removed.
*The UNSC's motto is derived from that of the British [[Wikipedia:Royal Marines|Royal Marines]], "''Per Mare, Per Terram,''": "''By Sea, By Land.''"
*While the new UNSC emblem introduced in ''[[Halo 4]]'' is canonically a new symbol the UNSC adopted in the post-war era instead of an artistic retcon of the classic design,{{Ref/Reuse|new symbol}} all ''Halo 4'' multiplayer maps set during the Covenant War feature the post-war emblem. However, the original, Covenant War-era symbol is appropriately featured in ''[[Halo 2: Anniversary]]'' multiplayer maps (e.g. [[Bloodline]]) and other uses, including labels on vehicles.<ref>[http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/10/20/zanzibar-remake-stonetown-rocks-in-halo-the-master-chief-collection-ign-first '''IGN.com''': ''Zanzibar Remake 'Stonetown' Rocks in Halo: The Master Chief Collection – IGN First'']</ref> Conversely, the post-war logo appears in the ''Halo 2: Anniversary'' campaign stamped on crates on [[Cairo Station (station)|Cairo Station]].<ref>[[:File:H2A Crates New UNSC Logo.png|This screenshot]]</ref> Due to a lighting glitch in ''The Master Chief Collection'', the war-era UNSC emblem can be seen on the bridge of the UNSC ''Infinity'' in the cutscene at the end of the ''Halo 4'' mission [[Reclaimer (level)|Reclaimer]].


==Notes==
==Gallery==
<references group="note"/>
<gallery>
File:Halo4UNSCLogoSpinAnimated.gif|The UNSC Logo used as ''Halo 4''{{'}}s loading screen.
File:Halopedia Era UNSC.png|The original UNSC emblem, used until the Human-Covenant War's conclusion.
File:H4 UNSC logo.png|The most recent incarnation of the stylized wordmark.
File:SLoftus-UNSC-MarineAir.png|The [[UNSC roundel]] used on aircraft.
File:SLoftus-UNSC-Ground.png|The UNSC roundel used on ground vehicles.
File:SLoftus-UNSC-Space.png|An emblem associated with space assets.
File:SLoftus-UNSC-Sword Wings.png|A post-war UNSC insignia possibly associated with the [[Spartan Operations|Spartan branch]].
File:H4FUD_UNSCLogo_Alt.jpg|An alternate, slimmer, version of the UNSC logo utilised in 2526 at the Corbulo Academy of Military Science.
File:Infinite Recruitment Poster.jpg|UNSC poster from [[2560]].
</gallery>
 
==List of appearances==
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-3}}
*''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' {{1st}}
**''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach#2010 bonus content|Adjunct]]''
*''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''
*''[[Halo: The Flood]]''
**''[[Halo: The Flood#2010 bonus content|Adjunct]]''
*''[[Halo: First Strike]]''
**''[[Halo: First Strike#2010 bonus content|Adjunct]]''
**''[[Petra]]''
**''[[Tug o' War]]''
*''[[i love bees]]''
*''[[Halo 2]]''
**''[[Conversations from the Universe]]''
*''[[Halo Graphic Novel]]''
**''[[Armor Testing]]''
**''[[Breaking Quarantine]]''
**''[[Halo Graphic Novel, Page 122|Page 122]]''
**''[[Second Sunrise Over New Mombasa]]''
**''[[The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor]]''
*''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]''
*''[[Starry Night]]''
*''[[Believe]]''
**''[[Diorama]]''
**''[[Enemy Weapon]]''
**''[[Gravesite]]''
**''[[Hunted]]''
**''[[Museum]]''
*''[[Halo: Landfall]]''
**''[[Halo: Arms Race]]''
**''[[Halo: Combat]]''
**''[[Halo: Last One Standing]]''
*''[[Halo: Uprising]]''
*''[[Halo 3]]''
*''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''
*''[[Halo: The Cole Protocol]]''
*''[[Halo Wars: Genesis]]''
*''[[Halo Wars]]''
*''[[Halo: Helljumper]]''
*''[[The Life]]''
*''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''
**''[[Sadie's Story]]''
*''[[Halo Legends]]''
**''[[Homecoming]]''
**''[[Origins]]''
**''[[Prototype]]''
**''[[The Babysitter]]''
**''[[The Package (animated short)|The Package]]''
*''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''
**''[[Blunt Instruments]]''
**''[[Dirt]]''
**''[[From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal]]''
**''[[Headhunters (short story)|Headhunters]]''
**''[[Human Weakness]]''
**''[[Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian]]''
**''[[Palace Hotel]]''
**''[[Pariah]]''
**''[[Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss]]''
**''[[The Mona Lisa]]''
**''[[The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole]]''
**''[[The Return]]''
*''[[Halo: Blood Line]]''
*''[[Remember Reach]]''
**''[[Birth of a Spartan]]''
**''[[Patrol]]''
**''[[Deliver Hope]]''
{{Col-3}}
*''[[Halo: Reach]]''
**''[[Data pads]]'' {{Im}}
**''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]''
*''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp|Boot Camp]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Covenant|Covenant]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Invasion|Invasion]]''
*''[[Halo: Cryptum]]''
*''[[Halo: Glasslands]]''
*''[[Halo Living Monument]]''
*''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''
**''[[Terminal (Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary)|Terminals]]''
*''[[Halo: Primordium]]''
*''[[The Commissioning]]''
*''[[Halo: The Thursday War]]''
*''[[Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn]]''
*''[[Scanned]]''
*''[[Halo 4]]''
**''[[Spartan Ops]]''
**''[[Infinity Briefing Packet]]''
*''[[Halo: Silentium]]''
*''[[Halo: Spartan Assault]]''
*''[[Halo: Initiation]]''
*''[[Halo: Escalation]]''
*''[[Halo: Mortal Dictata]]''
*''[[Halo: Nightfall]]''
*''[[Halo 2: Anniversary]]''
**''[[Terminal (Halo 2: Anniversary)|Terminals]]''
*''[[Halo: New Blood]]''
*''[[Hunt the Truth]]''
**''[[All Hail]]''
**''[[The Cost]]''
**''[[Hunt the Signal]]''
**''[[A Hero Falls]]''
**''[[The Hunt Begins]]''
*''[[Halo: Spartan Strike]]''
*''[[Halo: Hunters in the Dark]]''
*''[[Halo: Fleet Battles]]''
*''[[Halo: Last Light]]''
*''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series]]''
*''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]''
**''[[Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition dossiers|Limited Edition dossiers]]''
*''[[Know Your Enemy]]''
*''[[Halo: Ground Command]]''
*''[[Halo Mythos]]''
*''[[Halo: Fractures]]''
**''[[Lessons Learned]]''
**''[[Breaking Strain]]''
**''[[A Necessary Truth]]''
**''[[The Ballad of Hamish Beamish]]''
**''[[Into the Fire]]'' {{Mo}}
**''[[Rossbach's World (story)|Rossbach's World]]''
**''[[Anarosa]]''
*''[[Halo: Tales from Slipspace]]''
**''[[Something Has Happened]]''
**''[[Fireteam Majestic Poker Night]]''
**''[[On the Brink]]''
**''[[Knight Takes Bishop]]''
{{Col-3}}
*''[[Halo: Smoke and Shadow]]''
*''[[Halo Wars 2]]''
*''[[Halo: Envoy]]''
*''[[Halo: Rise of Atriox]]''
*''[[Halo: Recruit]]'' {{C|Non-canonical appearance}}
*''[[Halo: Retribution]]''
*''[[Halo: Legacy of Onyx]]''
*''[[Halo: Collateral Damage]]''
*''[[Halo: Silent Storm]]''
*''[[Halo: Fireteam Raven]]''
*''[[Halo: Bad Blood]]''
*''[[Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual]]''
*''[[Halo: Battle Born]]''
*''[[Halo: Lone Wolf]]''
*''[[Halo: Renegades]]''
*''[[Halo: Outpost Discovery]]''
*''[[Halo: Oblivion]]''
*''[[Halo: Meridian Divide]]
*''[[Halo: Shadows of Reach]]''
**''[[Sacrifice]]'' {{Im}}
*''[[Halo: Point of Light]]''
*''[[Halo: Divine Wind]]''
*''[[Halo Infinite]]''
*''[[Halo: The Television Series]]''
*''[[Halo: The Rubicon Protocol]]''
*''[[Halo: Outcasts]]''
*''[[Halo: Sunrise on Sanghelios]]''
*''[[Halo: Saturn Devouring His Son]]''
*''[[Halo: Battle for the Blood-Moon]]''
*''[[Halo: Trial of Reckoning]]''
*''[[Halo: Hippocratica]]''
*''[[Halo: Flashpoint]]''
{{Col-end}}


==Sources==
==Sources==
<references/>
{{Ref/Sources|2}}
 
==See also==
*[[UNSC rank structure]]


{{Major Factions}}
{{United Nations Space Command}}
{{Organizations}}


[[it:U.N.S.C.]]
[[Category:United Nations Space Command| ]]
[[ja:United Nations Space Command]]
[[Category:Unified Earth Government]]
[[Category:UNSC| ]]
[[Category:Factions]]

Revision as of 00:58, March 16, 2024

United Nations Space Command
Traced and provided by WyvernZu, based on the "Love and Hope" shirt seen here and the mug seen here.
The UNSC logo circa 2560.

A wide version of the Halo Wars cover art.
SPARTAN-IIs, UNSC Marines, and several UNSC vehicles

Active:

2163[1]

Allegiance:

Unified Earth Government

Headquarters:

Type:

  • Military, exploratory, and scientific force
  • Emergency military government

Role:

Military defense of Earth and her colonies[1]

Divisions:

Nicknames:

UNSC

Motto:

Per Mare, Per Terras, Per Constellatum[3]

Engagements:

Judicial branch:

UNSC Judge Advocate General's Corps

Executive branch:

UNSC High Command

Head of military:

Chairman:

Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood[7]

 

"Per Mare, Per Terras, Per Constellatum."
— Motto (Latin for "Through Sea, Through Land, Through the Constellations.")[3][8]

The United Nations Space Command (UNSC) is the military, exploratory, and scientific agency of the Unified Earth Government (UEG) and has acted as the emergency governing body of the human race at large for a time.[9] The UNSC was formed in the 22nd century, a time when remnants of old cultural ideologies clashed for supremacy in the Sol System. The UNSC served mainly as overseer of United Nations military operations in space. After initiating massive militarization propaganda throughout its off-world colonies, through the UNSC, the UN defeated Frieden and Koslovic insurgent forces in a conflict known as the Interplanetary War, which consisted of several side-battles that took place on Mars, the Jovian Moons and the South American rainforests. Although the Interplanetary War brought a great deal of suffering to both the colonial population and the residents of Earth, it also united most of humanity's military forces by the end of the 22nd century.[10]

Prior to the Covenant attack on Harvest in 2525,[10] the UNSC was stretched across human space. The most urgent concern was to contain the spread of the Insurrectionists, a violent resistance movement consisting of colonists who wanted independence from the Unified Earth Government. The UNSC fought constant battles in a loosely-defined civil war known as the Insurrection. In an attempt to help end the long-running war, the UEG commissioned the ORION Project and later the SPARTAN-II program, which created elite supersoldiers to combat the Insurrectionists. When the Human-Covenant War began and the alien invaders began destroying the Outer Colonies, these Spartans became humanity's best hope against the technological superiority of the hegemony. When the war began, the UNSC, which had been mired in controversy, became humanity's greatest protector. This allowed the UNSC to override civilian rule and establish itself as humanity's primary government. Although the Unified Earth Government was more open to step down, the Colonial Administration Authority, the arm of the UEG ruling over the colonies, resisted the UNSC's rise to power, and was stripped of its influence.[9]

Near the end of the year 2552, Earth was the last remaining major human bastion: it too nearly fell under attack by the Covenant, succumbing to occupation. Near-crippled in the aftermath of the Fall of Reach, the UNSC led by Chairman Chief of Naval Operations Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood, dedicated most of its remaining assets to the defense of the Sol System. The Human-Covenant War finally came to an end after the UNSC and the Sangheili Fleet of Retribution eliminated the Covenant leadership and destroyed the Flood threat.

In the aftermath of the war, the UNSC has upheld its alliance with the Swords of Sanghelios and eventually ceded political power back to the UEG. The UNSC is now experiencing a resurgence as it rebuilds humanity's war-torn domain and moves to reestablish itself as a major power within the Orion Arm.

Mission

A UNSC unit preparing to conduct a mass-deployment.

Though the official UNSC mission statement has been amended since it was established in 2163,[11] the UNSC's statement of function can be summarized in two points:

  • Uphold and advance the policies of the Unified Earth Government.[11]
  • Ensure the safety and security of Unified Earth Government territories, possessions, and areas vital to its interests.[11]

During the Human-Covenant War, notably during the later years, the UNSC's purpose was to protect humanity and ensure the survival of the human species.

Structure

Ultimate authority to direct the actions of the UNSC's armed forces lies in the office of the President of the Unified Earth Government. The authority granted to the President is legally absolute, though the Chairman of the UNSC Security Council is the principal commander of all UEG military assets and is authorized to act in the president's stead regarding matters of defense.[12] The Security Council acts as the principal staff element of the UNSC and is responsible for policy development, strategic planning, resource management and fiscal evaluations. The Security Council is staffed by the highest-ranking officers from the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force and Office of Naval Intelligence - with the Chief of Staff of the Spartan Operations department granted a non-voting advisory role on the council as of 2554.[12] The UEG also maintains a Secretary of Defense position, though the powers and limitations of this office are unknown.[13]

Despite the official status of the UNSC as subordinate to the UEG, the Massacre of the Outer Colonies in the war with the Covenant saw substantial authority handed from the government to the UNSC - with the military granted substantial emergency powers and martial law declared for the duration of the conflict. Civilian governance was formally restored in 2553 following the war's end, though this process considerably eroded the institutions of government and as such the UNSC retains a wide latitude of operational freedom regarding interactions with surviving colonies and affairs on Earth. This has led to a mass public sentiment that the UNSC is a military government, with the UEG in practice merely acting as its public relations arm.[12] The UNSC is additionally bound by the laws of the UNSC colonial charter, a document written to provide a set of regulations regarding military colonial governance.[14]

Below the UNSC Security Council is the UNSC High Command, or HIGHCOM - the UNSC's joint staff and executive body. Senior HIGHCOM officers report to the Security Council, but they primarily serve to coordinate joint and inter-agency protocols and objectives. HIGHCOM controls a wide range of sensitive and strategically vital officers and boards including the UNSC Inspector General, General Officer Review Board, UNSC Special Topics Committee and UNSC Ordnance Commission.[12] HIGHCOM also serves to advise UEG civilian leadership on issues relating to defense, and are based at HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6 in Sydney, Australia.[15] Other organizations included within HIGHCOM are a number of administrative commands, including UNSC Personnel Command (PERSCOM), the Medical Corps, the Engineering Corps, Human Resources, and Astrophysics.[16] Legal matters such as the issuing and enforcement of protocols are handled by the UNSC Judge Advocate General's Corps.[17] Research designed to improve the UNSC's operations is carried out by the Internal Audit office.[18]

Overall, HIGHCOM ensures that the UNSC's component branches work in close coordination, with very few "turf wars" over resources or responsibilities.[12]

Combatant commands

The UNSC is divided into two primary combatant commands - Naval Command (NAVCOM) and Unified Ground Command (UNICOM). The former controls all space-based assets and operations, while the latter focuses on terrestrial and close-orbit missions.[19] NAVCOM has administrative control over the Navy[20] and its officers alongside select Marine Corps units.[21] UNICOM has operational authority over UNSC Army[22] and Air Force deployments and some Marine units[21], and work alongside the Navy to coordinate orbital fire support missions and in-atmosphere support.[20]

NAVCOM and UNICOM form joint task forces that are thus then assigned to one of four Central Commands (CENTCOMs) - responsible for the defense and security of a given region of human space, referred to as CENTCOM Regions. These regions follow well-mapped slipspace routes which connect dozens of star systems; forces assigned to one CENTCOM cannot be moved to another without the approval of HIGHCOM, thus meaning each region must carefully marshal their limited resources. UNICOM planetside forces are organized into task forces that contain ground, aerospace, and maritime combat assets.[19]

Military departments

The UNSC's armed forces are comprised of six major military departments; four of these branches (Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force) are recognized and defined in UEG law, while the Spartan Operations division is a "continuing organization" that lacks explicit recognition and instead works directly under the UNSC's High Command. The Office of Naval Intelligence is a unique case; an organization that is bureaucratically a subordinate service of the Navy and not recognized as an independent service branch, but has enjoyed de facto autonomy from the Navy for nearly a century.[12] Despite these technicalities, these six organizations are all on occasion informally referred to as the six branches of the UNSC[23][24]

The military departments themselves are broken down into two major groupings; the UNSC Defense Force (UNSCDF) and the UNSCEF (presumably standing for something akin to UNSC Expeditionary Force). The former administers defensive assets of the UNSC and encompasses the Army and Air Force[25], while the latter includes Naval and Marine Corps forces. It is unclear whether the UNSCDF and UNSCEF have any relation to NAVCOM and UNICOM.

Navy

The UNSC Navy's logo.
Main article: UNSC Navy

"Provide naval forces to ensure freedom of access for aerospace and terrestrial operations."
— The Navy's official mission statement.[26]

The Navy is the senior service of the UNSC[20], formed in 2163 during the Interplanetary War.[24] The UNSC Navy is commanded by the Chief of Naval Operations (CINCNAV)[27], with a Deputy Chief of Naval Operations serving as their deputy.[28] The Chief of Naval Operations serves as the Navy's representative on the UNSC Security Council.[29] The Chief of Naval Operations also serves as the Commander-in-Chief Fleet (CINCFLEET).[30]

The UNSC Navy operates, trains, organizes and equips space forces to establish space superiority in deep space and close orbit - primarily signified by the use of its vast fleet of spacecraft. This force is used for the purpose of destroying or suppressing enemy space components, in particular those seeking to attack UEG commercial or terrestrial holdings.[26] The Navy ensures the safety of UEG trade and commerce, assists other governmental agencies in agencies of interstellar governance and as such, very little of interstellar consequence happens without the help or oversight of the Navy.[20] The UNSC Navy is headquartered at Fleet Command Headquarters on Reach.[31]

The Navy's collateral functions include;

  • Interstellar transportation of UNSC combat assets.[26]
  • Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Air Force and Marine Corps.[26]
  • Providing forces for joint aerospace and terrestrial operations, in accordance with UNSC doctrine.[26]
  • Coordinating with UEG civil agencies for the establishment and maintenance of naval depots and orbital yards.[26]
  • Establishment of emergency military government in designated crisis areas.[26]
This image was taken from the background of the Halo: Outpost Discovery website (link). However, the original image was very dark for use on a webpage, so it had to be manually brightened in photoshop by BaconShelf. Additionally, the original image was 5844x3836, so this had to be resized to fit Halopedia upload requirements.
UNSC Navy frigates engaging Covenant warships in space.

The Navy has a dual chain of command; administratively, Navy personnel report to NAVCOM while operationally they report to their assigned Task Command. There are three Task Commands under NAVCOM;

  • UNSC Navy Fleet Command (FLEETCOM) - Headed by the Secretary of Fleet Command[32] and directs the movement and tasking of naval squadrons and coordinates with UNICOM. FLEETCOM is responsible for the deployment of Navy warfighting assets and maximizing their combat efficacy.[20] Their direct deployment of the UNSC fleet sees them as the largest and most powerful of any NAVCOM grouping.[26]
  • UNSC Navy Logistical Operations Command (NAVLOGCOM) - Oversees the design, contracting and construction of Navy spacecraft alongside ensuring they are spaceworthy and supplied with parts, munitions, food and reaction mass.[20]
  • Naval Special Warfare Command (NAVSPECWARCOM) - A smaller, culturally-distinct section of the Navy that trains, equips and oversees special forces personnel in support of UNSC space operations.[20] Marine Corps special forces units are typically tasked under NAVSPECWARCOM, as were the SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III program personnel prior to the establishment of the Spartan Operations branch.

Navy spacecraft are assigned to fleets, which are organized in one of two ways;

  • Expeditionary fleets - Numbered fleets (e.g. Third Fleet) designed for offensive operations in deep space and centered around massive carriers.[33] Expeditionary fleets were largely decimated during the early years of the Covenant War, and by the war's end had no appreciable differences with defensive fleets due to being unable to make any major offensives without leaving the Inner Colonies dangerously vulnerable.[34]
  • Defensive fleets - Named fleets (e.g. Epsilon Eridani Fleet) typically named after the star system in which they are based. Defense fleets were historically considered little more than revenue police, though the onset of the Covenant war saw these units take a valuable role in providing desperately-needed training cadres and battle-ready (if outdated) warships.[20][34]

Fleets are assigned to numbered numbered Sectors such as FLEETCOM Sector One, contextually organized based on low-energy slipspace routes leading away from Earth. Special task forces may also be created without being assigned to a sector, and given responsibility for regions outside of these standard routes - designated as "lettered sectors".[20] Fleets are comprised of numerous battle groups, flexible combat elements that can be "plugged together" into ad-hoc fighting forces depending on the immediate situation. Squadrons serve as administrative groupings of warships for record-keeping and honorific purposes.[20]

The UNSC Navy maintains its own military police force[35]

Marine Corps

UNSC Marines logo
The UNSC Marine Corps' logo.
Main article: UNSC Marine Corps

"Provide combined arms expeditionary forces and security detachments."
— The Marine Corps' official mission statement.[36]

The UNSC Marine Corps is another senior service of the UNSC[21], and was formed alongside the Navy in 2163.[24][21] The Marine Corps is the space infantry department of the UNSC, and works closely alongside the Navy to effect military action across human space.[21] The administrative head of the Marine Corps is the Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC), who serves as the Marine Corps' senior general and service representative on the UNSC Security Council and Unified Ground Command staff. The CMC is responsible for organising, planning and implementing all Marine Corps activities.[21] The Marine Corps is headquartered at Fleet Command Headquarters on Reach.[31] The Marine Corps is responsible for maintaining an expeditionary force in readiness, which can seize and defend terrestrial and extraterrestrial strategic sites in advance of a larger main UNSC deployment. As such, the Marine Corps organizes, trains, equips and maintains planetary and space-based combined-arms teams capable of being rapidly deployed by the Air Force and Navy.[36] They are the general-purpose combat force of the UNSC, and employ a wide range of personnel from sharpshooters to combat engineers to xenolinguists.[36] Marine Corps forces are under administrative control (ADCON) of Marine Corps Forces (MARFOR), which focuses on the ability to reorganize, train and direct a given unit's long-term activities. Operational control (OPCON) of combat forces is handed to one of two combatant commands; Naval Command (NAVCOM) and Unified Ground Command (UNICOM) - which provides the authority to conduct missions and delegate tasks, but not the ability to alter the internal organization of subordinate units.[21]

Marine Corps forces are unusual in that they may transition back and forth between combatant commands in combat zones, synchronized by Joint Deconfliction Teams. Marine Corps forces assigned to NAVCOM form a unit referred to as Fleet Marine Forces, under the operational control of FLEETCOM command. Fleet Marine Forces include Marines assigned to shipboard and facility security, boarding parties and most aerospace assets. Landing parties and expeditionary ground combat elements remain under the jurisdiction of NAVCOM, though this reading of the regulations is vehemently contested by UNICOM. Conversely, Marines conducting long-term planetary security missions, train-and-equip details and force augmentation for UNSC garrisons fall under UNICOM control.[21]

Marines and ODSTs on deployment in Mombasa.

The Marine Corps' collateral functions include;

  • Enforcement of emergency military law in designated crisis areas.[36]
  • Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Army and Navy.[36]
  • Furnishing security teams for the protection of UNSC property and high-value personnel.[36]
  • Deployment of security detachments and organizations for service on Navy ships.[36]
  • Development of doctrine, tactics, techniques and equipment for the rapid deployment and utilization of interstellar combat power.[36]

Marine Corps forces are typically deployed as part of a Marine Expeditionary Force, which may encompass several divisions as subordinate units and is itself subordinate to Fleet Marine Forces.[37]

xx - Division - 14,000 Marines led by a Major General and deployed as a Marine Expeditionary Unit[21]
x - Marine Brigade/Marine air wing - 9,000 Marines led by a Brigadier General and deployed as a Marine Air Wing[21]
||| - Regiment/Marine Air Regiment - 3,000 Marines led by a Lieutenant Colonel or Colonel and deployed specifically by UNICOM as a Rapid Reaction Force[21]
|| - Battalion - 900 Marines led by a Lieutenant Colonel or Colonel and deployed as a task force ground combat element or as a unit assigned to a carrier[21]
| - Company - 180 Marines led by a First Lieutenant or Captain and deployed as a special task force or as a unit assigned to a cruiser[21]
••• - Platoon - 40 Marines led by a Second Lieutenant or Staff Sergeant and deployed as a unit assigned to a frigate[21]
•• - Squad - Thirteen Marines led by a Corporal or Sergeant[21]
• - Section - Eight Marines led by a Lance Corporal or Corporal[21]
Ø - Fireteam - Four Marines led by a Lance Corporal or Corporal[21]

Marine special operations forces such as the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs), UNSC Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance and other Marine special forces are typically deployed under the control of Naval Special Warfare Command (NAVSPECWARCOM).[21] The ODSTs maintain a number of specialized internal divisions to oversee special activities such as the ODST Special Purpose Forces, containing the air assault units nicknamed "Bullfrogs" and the Special Tactics and Equipment Group (STEG), who oversee the Hellbringers - specialized ODST warfighters who oversee the usage and deployment of demolition charges, incendiary weapons, nuclear weapons and thermobaric weapons.[38]

Army

The UNSC Army's logo.
Main article: UNSC Army

"Provide forces for sustained terrestrial combat operations and civil works."
— The Army's official mission statement.[39]

The UNSC Army is the primary terrestrial department of the UNSC, and provides the majority of the logistical support and reservist soldiers who fight in ground campaigns.[22][39] The Army is responsible for defense of UEG territorial holdings and the long-term occupation of enemy territories, and as such trains, organises, equips and maintains amphibious, land, and airborne forces for this mission.[39][12] As such, while all Army soldiers are trained warfighters, in peacetime they also provide an invaluable force of engineers, technicians, builders and designers who perform public works and improve existing colonial infrastructure to support future UNSC deployments.[39][22] The Army also maintains its own Corps of Engineers for performing some of the duties listed above[40][41], alongside the Army Security Forces for the purpose of military policing - particularly among the Inner Colonies. Army Security Forces may be employed for the duties of colonial occupation, reconstruction oversight and even civilian law enforcement, or deployed into the Outer Colonies to assist CAA Marshals and UNSC peacekeeping forces in fighting against Insurrectionist elements, monitoring megacorporate activities and guarding critical infrastructure.[22]

Troopers of 3 Charlie engaging Covenant forces in the Visegrád region on the morning of July 24, 2552.

The Army's collateral functions include;

  • Conducting civil works that have strategic application, including projects for improvement of navigation and follow-on terraforming.[39]
  • Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Air Force and Marine Corps.[39]
  • Organisation and training of civil defense units (colloquially "militias")[39]
  • Providing forces for joint aerospace and space operations, in accordance with UNSC doctrines.[39]

Army forces have been historically administratively organised under the control of specialised local commands (Army Component Command) based on a particular assigned colony, though the destruction of many of these worlds in the war with the Covenant saw most of these "temporarily" disestablished and replaced by sector working groups on Earth and Reach. Operational authority of Army forces is granted to UNICOM.[22]

The Army operates its own special forces such as the Army airborne, Pathfinders and Army Rangers - who are presumably organised under Unified Special Warfare Command (USW), or simply Special Warfare Command (SPECWARCOM). SPECWARCOM organises its detachments into "Groups" such as Special Warfare Group Three. , as well as specialised maritime forces colloquially referred to as the "wet navy". Army submarine arsenal ships and aircraft carriers are vital components in the defense of colony worlds.[22]

Air Force

UNSC Air Force logo
The UNSC Air Force's logo.
Main article: UNSC Air Force

"Provide aerospace defense and conduct space control operations."
— The Air Force's official mission statement.[42]

The UNSC Air Force serves as the primary aerospace combat department of the UNSC. Contrary to their name, the Air Force does not simply operate aircraft within a planetary atmosphere, but instead focus on maintaining aerospace superiority over a given world via the use of unmanned drones, crewed aerospacecraft and orbital weapon platforms.[43] The Air Force operates a network of quick rapid reaction squadrons on Earth and in the Inner Colonies, which are prepped and ready to deploy atmospheric fighter craft and military spaceplanes at a moment's notice. These strikecraft work alongside surveillance and weapons satellites to attrition an attack and assist Navy elements on station - this task saw the Air Force rack up a considerable kill ratio against Covenant invaders during the Great War despite their disadvantage in numbers and technology.[42] The Air Force's atmospheric forces are primarily comprised of unmanned drones such as the F-99 Wombat which are deployed in large numbers, though they are augmented by crewed multi-role craft such as GA-TL1 Longsword interceptors, F-41 Broadsword fighters and even B-65 Shortsword strategic bombers.[43]

A screenshot of an F-99 Wombat UCAV in the skies on the level Uplift Reserve.
The Air Force operates a number of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) such as the F-99 Wombat (pictured).

The Air Force's collateral functions include;

  • Deployment and maintenance of UNSC unmanned defense satellites and orbital weapon platforms.[42]
  • Monitoring and regulation of military and civilian orbital activites.[42]
  • Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Army and Navy[42]
  • Furnishing support and space support for the Army and Navy.[42]

Air Force units may be expeditionary or garrison in nature, with the largest overall groupings named Groups and Wings, respectively. A given Group/Wing is a larger organisation within the Air Force that combines several air Squadrons with non-aircraft units to provide specialised functions such as airbase operation and fuel refining. Squadrons consist of two to six Flights plus additional command and technical elements, and are typically named by a number and a mission type (such as the 980th Intercept Squadron), while a Flight consists of three to four individual aircraft and their support personnel. Flights are officially identified by a phonetic letter designation, though most also get an informal nickname.[43]

Air Force orbital defense platform assets are grouped under the Orbital Defense Command[44], while regular air combat operations are conducted under the Air Combat Command.[45] The Air Force also maintains its own signals intelligence (SIGINT) division[46] and the Air Mobility Express - who work to provide airlift and spacelift capacity for the UNSC.[47] The Air Force often employs Army maritime forces as launch platforms for its operations, using roving watercraft and carrier platforms to vector strikes against targets from outside the enemy's sensor horizon before retreating to underwater staging areas.[43]

The Air Force was the first service department to directly collaborate with the newly-established Spartan Operations branch, funding a joint-operations laboratory to test novel ways in which super-soldiers can augment their capabilities and certifying Spartan-IV personnel as pilots for next-generation fighters.[42]

Office of Naval Intelligence

The Office of Naval Intelligence's logo.
Main article: Office of Naval Intelligence

"Provide technical capabilities for the support of psychological, information and cyber operations."
— The Office of Naval Intelligence's official mission statement.[48]

The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the preeminent intelligence service within the UEG.[48] The organisation is ostensibly and bureacratically subordinate to the UNSC Navy, though in practice retains almost complete autonomy thanks to nearly a century of growth. This has seen ONI take over the duties of previously-independent agencies such as the Department of Colonial Security (DCS) to become the sole major intelligence organisation in human space. ONI is headed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Office of Naval Intelligence (CINCONI), who is granted a seat on the UNSC Security Council. ONI remains closely-linked with the Navy in terms of administration and overall culture, though collaboration at the flag officer level is fraught with political peril and bureaucratic manoeuvring.[49]

ONI's collateral functions include;

  • Deployment of covert teams for direct action and technical data collection.[48]
  • Oversight of the gathering, analysis and dissemination of national security information from around the UEG.[48]
  • Development of doctrine, techniques and equipment for the collection and exploitation of information in support of UEG security.[48]
  • Providing combat support intelligence for UNSC operations.[48]
  • Establishment of covert observation systems around enemy colonies and facilities.[48]

To achieve its goals, ONI is divided into five sections that each specialise in different aspects of intelligence gathering, analysis and dissemination. Each section in turn, has its own compartmentalised teams dedicated to more specific long-term taskings and program management.[49]

  • Section Zero - Section dedicated to internal affairs and security audits. Section Zero believes its existence to be a secret, but other sections are aware of their existence and often work to infiltrate it and turn it against their rivals.[49]
  • Section One - Section dedicated to military intelligence gathering and analysis. This is the oldest and most traditional element of ONI, with offices and functions that predate even the creation of the UNSC.[48] As such, this is the only section to have a notable public presence, with the Fleet Intelligence Center (FIC) issuing UEG slipspace travel interdiction orders, planetary evacuation notices and thread advisories on behalf of the UNSC and UEG.[49]
  • Section Two - Section dedicated to information operations and public relations. This section began as the public relations division of ONI, but soon grew into an organisation specialising in "information shaping" across the UEG. This has seen Section Two commonly labelled as a propaganda centre, though the section's activities tend more toward disseminating accurate information and reports for use by policy makers.[49]
  • Section Three - Section dedicated to special acquisition, research and development projects for the UNSC. Section Three maintains a vast number of front organisations and wields considerable power, and leverages this both covertly and overtly in the corporate and academic worlds.[49]
  • Section Four - Clandestine survey group that conducts xenoarchaeology and planetary survey studies, claiming new worlds for ONI use without the approval or knowledge of the UEG. Section Four additionally maintains observation capabilities on ex-Covenant, Banished and independent human worlds.[49]

Spartan Operations

The insignia of Spartan Operations.
Main article: Spartan Operations

Established in 2553[50][51], Spartan Operations (sometimes unofficially termed the "Spartan branch") is the sixth and newest military department of the UNSC, charged with oversight of the Spartan supersoldiers. Unlike the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, Spartan Operations is not a formal military branch recognised in UEG law but instead a "continuing organisation" that lacks explicit legal recognition.[12] Spartan Operations instead functions as a special forces command that answers directly to the UNSC Security Council, eschewing the oversight of ONI that characterised the SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III programs in the earlier half of the 26th century.[50] The Spartan Operations program is led by Commander-in-Chief of the Spartans (CINCSPAR), a position which was granted a non-voting advisory seat on the UNSC Security Council in 2554.[12]

Spartan-IVs (including Terry Hedge) from Fireteam Lancer in Warrens during Requiem Campaign, as seen in Halo 4 Spartan Ops Episode 7 Expendable Chapter 3 Lancer.
Spartan Operations personnel are signified by their unique usage of MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor.

Spartan Operations is predominantly comprised of SPARTAN-IV personnel; a program originated in the final months of 2552, alongside some remaining SPARTAN-III personnel. SPARTAN-III personnel also serve in the unit, with all known surviving IIIs offered integration into SPARTAN-IV following the war's end.[52] Despite this, Spartan Operations only retains administrative control of the Spartans themselves, with operational authority granted to Unified Special Warfare Command and Naval Special Warfare Command for field deployments.[53] Tactical deployments of Spartan personnel are overseen by Central Command in their assigned CENTCOM Regions, who oversee the allocation of Spartans to various UNSC fleets and armies within their purview.[54] As such, Spartans are often deployed alongside UNICOM and NAVCOM special forces units, such as ODSTs and Army Rangers.[50] Spartan Operations additionally continues to operate programs inherited from prior Spartan generations such as the Headhunters.[55]

Unlike the rest of the UNSC, the Spartans do not operate a strict escalating rank structure and instead operate in a strict framework that emphasises teamwork, co-operation and specialisation based on personal skill alone.[56] This is the result of a deliberate effort to emphasise the informal leadership traditions of prior Spartan programs and adapt them to emphasise independence of rigid chain of command adherence. As such, all Spartans receive a direct commission as an officer in the UNSC, though this authority typically does not extend outside of their direct chain of command. Nonetheless, UNSC personnel in the field are often expected to defer to Spartans and in turn, Spartans are expected to take the initiative in combat scenarios. The baseline Spartan role sees a given Spartan tasked with the equivalent authority of a Lieutenant in the Navy, with higher ranks awarded appropriately equivalent officer status.[57]

Spartans are typically deployed in fireteams of 4-5 personnel, with each member assumed to be omni-capable in most disciplines. As such, they are typically expected to develop specific highly-specialised skillsets known as "Specializations" to further aid their team and enhance their subject matter expert status. Fireteams are generally assigned based on social dynamics and combat efficiency, though Spartans are expected to perform well in any unit.[50]

Alongside the Spartan personnel themselves, Spartan Operations operates its own network of infrastructure to serve as training and stationing grounds. These include orbital training stations such as Laconia, Naxos and Virgo, alongside smaller War Games platforms known as Munera Platforms.[50] Spartan Operations is also involved in the Anvil Initiative and Project CRUCIBLE, a joint-initiative with the Swords of Sanghelios to equip and train Spartans and Sangheili for joint operations, based on ANVIL Station.[58]

History

Flag of the UNSC
History of the UNSC
Pre-UNSC period
- Creation of the United Nations (1945)
- Jovian Moons Campaign (2160)
- Rain Forest Wars (2162)
- Mars Campaign (2163)
Interplanetary War (2164–2170)
Inner Colony Wars (after 2362)
Insurrection (2494–2537, resurgence: 2553–)
Human-Covenant War (2525–2552)
Post-Covenant War conflicts (2553–)

Origins

Main articles: Jovian Moons Campaign, Rain Forest Wars

By 2160, two dissident movements had formed in opposition to the United Nations and the national governments of Earth across the Solar system; the Koslovics and the Friedens.[10] Despite empowering the United Nations to stem violence from these two new blocs, it only exacerbated it leading to the Jovian Moons Campaign and eventually the dreadful siege known as the Rainforest Wars.[59] In response to this,[59] the United Nations would in 2163 commission the creation of a military force primarily composed of naval and marine forces.[1] These marine forces would be composed of the spaceborne forces of several nations.[21] Overall, it was to be a powerful military arm to defend Earth and her colonies called the United Nations Space Command.[59]

Mars Campaign

Main article: Mars Campaign

In the most spectacular offensive since the start of the bloody tripartite war, UN command adopted a military strategy long-forgotten throughout the peace-dominated period prior to the outbreak of the Jovian Moons Campaign in 2160 - the "Blitzkrieg"-style lightning ground assault. After capturing both Frieden and Koslovic forces on Mars, the UN delivered the first space-deployed contingent of the newly-established Marines in December of 2163 on a mission to crush communist infantry encampments in the basin of Argyre Planitia, marking a turning-point in space warfare through dedicated deployments of Marine forces in ground assaults and ship-boarding operations that would follow during the war.[10]

The offensive was an incontestable success for the UN side. As a result, military theory and strategy implemented the use of Marines in high-priority missions as a baseline for successful operations, especially within the context of larger conflicts.[10]

However, the most important consequence of the anti-totalitarian campaign was of both political and military nature. The United Nations itself did not control a dedicated space military prior to the Mars Campaign, a lacking element which it would replace with a special emergency military force that would come to represent humanity's overall military might. In the wake of the success of the UNSC Marines on Mars, the UN used its growing influence to not only take control of Earth's national governments, but also absorb Earth's national military organizations into a single, organized force; the United Nations Space Command was created.[10]

Interplanetary War

Main article: Interplanetary War

As of 2164, psychological results of the campaign on Mars were formidable; civilian trust in the newly-formed UNSC military was boosted by massive televised propaganda, providing the UNSC with large waves of enthusiastic volunteers from all military services around the world. A sense of urgency, courage and hope helped UN forces scramble extraordinary divisions of Marines, infantry and fliers for a final campaign to annihilate remaining communist and fascist outposts and strongholds on Earth as well as throughout the inner planets and beyond Jupiter. The final campaign for peace lasted from 2164 to 2170 in a series of brutal crackdowns on Frieden and Koslovic hardliners. The result of this war gathered strong civilian support for some sort of powerful international military that could repel revolts and uprisings wherever they may occur. The UNSC emerged as the leading force to further those goals.[10]

UN victory

Coincidentally, the war formally ended where it had begun: in the Jovian Moons. The Callisto Treaty was signed in 2170 by commanders of Koslovic and Frieden forces in the presence of UN colonial authorities, definitively ending the 10-year-long conflict with a victory of UNSC forces and democratic leadership.[10]

2170 saw the creation of the first multinational and multicolonial representation of democracy in outer space. Faced with concerns of overpopulation and starvation on Earth, consequently coupled with a looming destabilization of capitalist economy, the Unified Earth Government—up until then lacking concrete power—was formed into a full-fledged governing body in a time of cultural and military reconstruction.[10]

The brutal ten-year-long war put the spotlight on problems facing the overpopulated Earth, and the Rainforest Wars also exacerbated issues relating to food distribution; this, along with the UN overmilitarization that occurred during the war, presented immediate problems for the postwar United Nations Space Command. The ensuing famine and societal problems related to the postwar population boom provided the spark to change the political nature of governance on Earth and elsewhere, leading to widespread political reform.[10]

The Colonial Era

Main articles: Domus Diaspora, Human colonies, Inner Colonies, Outer Colonies
A colony ship readying for departure during the Domus Diaspora.

The pressures engendered by the Interplanetary War made space colonization seem more attractive in subsequent centuries, and the Unified Earth Government would sign off on the first large-scale interstellar colony ship program that was revealed in 2310 to ease the burden of an overpopulated Earth. This would not have been possible without the invention of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine in 2291, which allowed the ships to travel vast distances within a reasonable time by opening portals into Slipstream space.[10] At the same time, the UEG established a separate colonial governing body known as the Colonial Administration Authority as well as the Colonial Military Authority, a dedicated military force to police the colonies.[60]

In 2362, the first colony ship, the Odyssey, was launched, beginning the period of human history later known as the Domus Diaspora.[61] This initial colonization effort was concentrated in the Epsilon Eridani system, which would later become one of the centers of humanity's interstellar empire.[62] Vast numbers of citizens and soldiers elected to travel to these new colonies, stabilizing the overpopulation problem on Earth and giving the military new tasks to handle. As the first colonists are stringently selected, the Inner Colonies eventually formed an elite society of the best physical and mental human specimens. A core ring of 210 Inner Colonies were not fully developed until the end of the 24th century.[10]

The apex of this colonization movement would come in 2492 when more then 800 worlds were inside UNSC territory, many of them targeted for human habitation. These settlements ranged from fairly well-tamed planetary strongholds to tiny hinterland settlements. During this period, the planet Reach (orbiting Epsilon Eridani, right on Earth's metaphorical doorstep) became the UNSC's primary naval yard and training academy. Reach was a major producer of warships and colony vessels, as well as a training ground for covert operatives and Special Forces.[10]

Over the course of humanity's interstellar expansion, a number of alien artifacts were discovered; while unknown at the time, these were the works of a long-vanished civilization known as the Forerunners. However, virtually all of these findings were discreetly concealed by the UNSC's Office of Naval Intelligence, which exerted virtually complete control over the research and information flow about xenoarchaeological discoveries. A noted example of this is Onyx, originally surveyed as an ideal world for human settlement but declared off-limits by ONI due to the alien technology discovered there.[62]

The Insurrection

Main article: Insurrection

By the final decade of the 25th century, a chain of Outer Colonies was providing the UEG with valuable raw materials; the political power, however, remained with the aforementioned Inner Colonies. These differences in wealth distribution and political power, led to new threats of secession from the outer territories. Over time, ideological and political causes resulted in many of the Outer Colonies engaging in open rebellion. A series of brushfire wars across human space sprang up, with hundreds more threatening to erupt as well. By 2511, UNSC estimates, largely based upon the projections of Dr. Elias Carver, put massive, overwhelming, and uncontrollable rebellion at less than twenty years away.[10]

Military conflicts began disrupting UNSC authority in the Outer Colonies where several uprisings among working-class agriculturalists and other social classes grew unhappy with the UNSC's largely inconsiderate governance. This unrest gave rise to the Insurrectionist movement, a loose collection of violent colonial separatists with the shared goal of liberating the Outer Colonies from the Unified Earth Government's influence.

Spartans

Main article: Spartan
Spartan-II Red Team in MJOLNIR armor.

Fearing the consequences of the possible breakup of their fledgling interstellar empire, while wishing to preserve as much infrastructure as possible, the United Earth Government would embark on a series of covert efforts to quickly and quietly deal with insurrections without incurring massive civilian casualties.[10]

Before the UNSC expanded its forays into biological augmentation to create successful Special Forces programs in the 26th century, the Colonial Military Authority experimented with a prototype Special Forces project in the 24th century that tested the effects of bioaugmentations on Marine Corps and Navy personnel. The experiments proved ineffective and were formally canceled as a result, marking the first attempt to create a specialized force of covert-warfare operators in response to insurgent outbursts within the domain of the Unified Earth Government.

Due to increasing risk of insurrectionist activity in the late 25th century, the UNSC's Office of Naval Intelligence conceived a project to train Special Forces soldiers in counter-insurgent and counter-revolutionary warfare. The ORION Project, retroactively termed as Spartan-I, was an Naval Special Warfare program, overseen by the CMA, created to train special advanced warfare squads to combat the Insurrection. They became experts in counterinsurgency operations, assassinations, raids, and eliminating high value targets—all considered black operations.[63] However, expectations for the new soldiers were not met, and the project was deactivated in 2506, and all members reassigned to other Special Operations units.[64] In the coming years, ORION's methodologies would be uses as basis for a reform in the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers,[65] the most famed special operations force of the UNSC Marines.

Several years later, ONI's alarming projections on colonial instability prompted them to initiate a second generation supersoldier project which would come to be known as the SPARTAN-II program. Partly informed by the pioneering efforts of ORION with new methodologies conceived by Dr. Catherine Halsey, the new program introduced highly unethical aspects such as the covert conscription of mentally and physically gifted children who would be molded into the perfect instruments to quell insurgent leadership and thus prevent the predicted scenario of indefinite all-out war. Physically augmented and equipped with state-of-the-art MJOLNIR powered armor, the Spartan-IIs would prove to be the most effective soldiers fielded by the UNSC, although not in the role they were originally intended for; the attack of the genocidal Covenant quickly saw the Spartans reallocated to combat the new enemy.[66]

During the Covenant War, the success of the Spartan-IIs would convince the ONI leadership to use similar methodologies to create hundreds of supersoldiers in the SPARTAN-III program. Despite various refinements in their training and augmentation processes, most of the Spartan-IIIs would be less well-equipped than their predecessors for budgetary reasons, and the majority of them would ultimately perish on strategically important, high-risk deployments.[67] Following the end of the war, the SPARTAN-IV program marked a return to ORION's recruitment protocols, drawing candidates from the UNSC's extant military forces; additionally, technological advances and the relegation of equipment manufacturing to the private sector allowed each operator to be issued with the previously prohibitively expensive Mjolnir armor. With Spartans being created in increasing numbers, their presence across UNSC-controlled space would become far more established and publicized in the years that followed than ever before.[68]

Human-Covenant War

Main article: Human-Covenant War
The UNSC Eagle, Globe, and Banner.[69]

2525 marked the most important turning point in human history. It would mark the beginning of the great technological advancement, the unification of a divided and fractured human race, and the first contact between humanity and extraterrestrial intelligence; the Covenant. It would also see a majority of the UNSC's colony worlds destroyed, with billions killed by orbital plasma bombardment, a technique latter known as glassing. The most important war in the history of the human race began with a disastrous first contact at the distant colony of Harvest.

By this time, the UNSC overrode the UEG, and thus became the central civilian authority throughout its territory and Earth itself. Although the central government was more willing to step down given the magnitude of the crisis, the Colonial Administration Authority was far more reluctant. As a result, the UNSC stripped it of most of its power. By the middle to late stages of the war, the government of humanity could be accurately described as an "emergency military" force.

First contact

Main article: First Battle of Harvest
Preston Cole reviews the events of the Battle of Harvest.
Admiral Cole's victory at Harvest.

Stemming from the chance encounter of human and Covenant forces at Harvest, the first contact made between humanity and the Covenant involved the ship Minor Transgression, and was less peaceful than the second contact made between the two factions. A meeting between representatives of the two factions took place on the fields of Harvest, but the attempt at diplomacy soon turned into a bloodbath. The Covenant claimed the planet for the numerous "Forerunner relics" their luminaries had detected, and slaughtered most of the colony's population.[10] The vast majority of the Covenant remained unaware that the humans they were sworn to annihilate, were in fact the very Reclaimers (mistranslated as "Reclamation") their ancient texts spoke of.[70]

On April 20, a scout ship, the CMA sent in a scout ship, the Argo, to investigate the cessation of communications between Harvest and the rest of the UEG's colonies. Before being destroyed by Covenant forces, it discovered that the planet had been incinerated, and its surface covered by fields of magma. Soon after, Battle Group 4, consisting of the frigates CMA Arabia and Vostok and the destroyer CMA Heracles, were sent to investigate. On October 7, the battle group dropped out of Slipspace and to Harvest. In orbit around the remains of the colony world was a single alien ship which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying them all except one. Intercepted communications identified the enemy as the Covenant, a caste-driven, theological organization made up of several alien species. The message "Your destruction is the will of the gods...and we are their instrument" was broadcast in perfect English.[71] The war for mankind's very survival had begun.

The Covenant invade a population center on a human world.

Since the later Second Battle of Harvest in 2526, where an enormous human fleet led by Vice Admiral Preston Cole barely won against a single Covenant ship in a symbolic "victory", the UNSC's grip on their territories declined significantly. While the UNSC fought a formidable defensive action against the Covenant's onslaught, the Covenant's technological superiority in space overwhelmed humanity's naval defenses. Over the next 27 years, the Covenant had managed to destroy nearly all of the Outer Colonies, and a portion of the Inner Colonies.[10] Recognizing that it was fighting a losing battle against a superior enemy, the UNSC adopted and enforced the Cole Protocol, drafted by Admiral Cole to ensure that the Covenant never learned the location of Earth as the war continued to spread into human space.

The UNSC's military victories against the Covenant were few and far between, with Admiral Cole winning a decisive victory against the Covenant at the Battle of Psi Serpentis in 2543, destroying an entire enemy fleet at the cost of his own life. Behind the scenes, humanity began to extensively reverse-engineer technology recovered from both the Forerunners and the Covenant in a bid to bridge the gap between the Covenant and humanity's technological advancement. The deployment of the Spartan-II supersoldiers proved devastating to the Covenant and enabled the UNSC to stave off several major Covenant offensive operations. However, the Covenant's encroachment of human space continued largely unabated, and the ongoing war of attrition took a toll on the UNSC's offensive capability as the threat to Earth's survival drew closer.

RED FLAG and Halo

Main articles: Operation: RED FLAG, Fall of Reach, Battle of Installation 04
UNSC Pillar of Autumn arrives at Installation 04.

By 2552 the UNSC, outnumbered and outgunned, had nonetheless managed to slow the Covenant's inexorable progress through human space. However, the situation remained dire. In desperation, HIGHCOM ordered a high-risk operation, sending the SPARTAN-II supersoldiers to insert into Covenant space, capture one or more high-ranking Prophet, and return to UNSC space. With such valuable hostages, the UNSC would then attempt to ransom these leaders for a truce. Before the operation began, the Covenant found and destroyed the fortress world of Reach, destroying a large portion of the UNSC's military forces, inadvertently stopping the operation and, seemingly, killing most of the Spartans.[10]

A single ship, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn managed to escape the planet, with one active Spartan on board; Master Chief John-117. The ship followed coordinates derived by the AI Cortana to a Forerunner ringworld known as Halo Installation 04. There, John-117 encountered a parasitic lifeform known as the Flood, which Halo had been built to eliminate by destroying all life in the galaxy. John-117 destroyed the ring before it could be fired by detonating the reactors of the Pillar of Autumn. After hijacking a Covenant flagship, the Spartan reunited with the survivors from Installation 04 and the destruction of Reach. This small band of soldiers attacked a force of Covenant ships in Operation: FIRST STRIKE, one of the most successful UNSC operations against the Covenant in the entire war.

Final months

Main articles: Battle of Earth, Battle of Installation 05, Battle of Installation 00
The UNSC Home Fleet engages the Covenant over Earth.

Starting September 5, 2552, all remaining naval assets were recalled to Earth and amalgamated into a single command grouping under the Home Fleet in preparation for an impending Covenant invasion.[72]

By October of 2552, an estimated twenty-three billion civilians were killed since the dawn of the Human-Covenant War,[73] and the Covenant haphazardly discovered the position of the human homeworld, Earth, and sent a preliminary task force there, believing it to be the location of the Ark, an ancient Forerunner relic. They encountered staunch resistance, and were initially fended off as soon as more Covenant reinforcements continued to arrive in-system days and weeks after the initial invasion.[74][75][76] Further complications arose from the political and religious crisis that emerged in the wake of a UNSC operation to assassinate the Prophet of Regret, and the secession of the Sangheili from the hegemony, leading to the Great Schism.[77][78] Overnight, the Covenant was thrown into chaos.[78] Nevertheless, by November, the forces loyal to the Prophet of Truth had already subjugated large parts of Africa since its arrival shortly after Regret's departure from Earth by attempting to excavate a long-buried large Forerunner structure.[79] Later, Truth took the majority of remaining Covenant loyalist fleets with him after he departed aboard the Forerunner keyship Anodyne Spirit for Earth.[80] Upon their arrival in the Sol system, the final Covenant fleets devastated much of the planet, mostly via orbital bombardment, after routing the numerically-inferior Home Fleet on November 17.[81] Only the offensive led by Commander Miranda Keyes through the Forerunner portal uncovered in Africa, and the help of the Sangheili fleet prevented the eventual destruction of the UNSC and Earth itself.[82]

The UNSC and their Sangheili allies launched a joint operation to destroy the Covenant once and for all at the Ark. Fighting against a massive Covenant fleet (3:1 numerical superiority in space), and even greater forces garrisoned on the Ark, the allies were able to stop Truth from firing the Halo Array.[83] In addition, the Sangheili known as the Arbiter killed Truth, the Covenant's last remaining leader, while SPARTAN-117, leading the ground effort to destroy the Covenant's remaining forces, deactivated the Halo Array before the Halo installations could be fired.[82] On March 3, 2553, the Human-Covenant War officially ended in a victory for the UNSC and the Sangheili, but at a high price.[84] Most major military outposts, along with countless colonies had been destroyed. Earth, despite the loss of billions to orbital bombardment,[81] remained battered but standing.

Reconstruction and new conflicts

Main article: Post-Covenant War conflicts

"For too many years, humanity was on the backfoot. Reacting to threats, rather than preventing them. Rest of the galaxy was bigger than us. Stronger than us. We were mice, hiding in the shadows, hoping the giants would not see us. No more. Humanity is no longer on the defense. We are the giants now."
— Captain Thomas Lasky[85]
Following the war, UNSC branding was reworked. The new logo is bold, strong, and ascendant.[86]

The UNSC transferred its emergency governing functions back to the UEG on January 8, 2553, although this formal shift of power did not significantly diminish the UNSC's practical authority.[87]

Since 2553, the UNSC has engaged in an extensive period of reconstruction in order to restore stability to the shattered remnants of its territory. The UNSC has moved to reclaim those worlds that were not completely destroyed during the Human-Covenant War. Former colonies such as Eridanus II,[88] Meridian and Draco III were resettled and became strategic staging points for humanity's efforts to reunite its reach across space.[89] New planets such as Oban have also been colonized for the purpose of resettling the countless millions of refugees whose worlds were lost in the conflict. The UNSC also aimed to salvage any recoverable military assets lost during the war; paying companies such as Warner & Ives to recover slipspace drives from derelict vessels, and buying scrap from clearing house auctions, such as those in New Tyne on the planet Venezia.[90] With the genocidal threat of the Covenant ended, the UNSC has employed some of its former species including Unggoy and Huragok in a limited capacity. The UNSC also maintains its earlier peace treaty with the Swords of Sanghelios under the leadership of Arbiter Thel 'Vadam. In 2553 the Joint Occupation Zones were created and are now governed by both the UNSC and the Sangheili, with former colonies such as Carrow now hosting new citizens from both sides. The UNSC has also established outposts around the Halo Array and other such Forerunner installations, which they closely monitor with the Sangheili. However, tensions remain as insurrectionist movements have grown in strength, with worlds like Venezia and Gao effectively having seceded from the UEG as recently as 2553.[91][92] In early 2553, the Office of Naval Intelligence began authorizing operations to sow dissent among the Sangheili, disregarding the alliance in the hopes of rendering them unable to fight should they become a threat again. These actions culminated in a civil war between the Arbiter's forces and those who opposed the alliance with humanity.[93]

The commissioning of UNSC Infinity.[94]

In spite of the catastrophic damage UNSC's infrastructure and personnel suffered during the Covenant War, various secret projects initiated in the final years of the conflict enabled the UNSC to regain some degree of military power in the months after the cessation of hostilities.[95] To symbolize their newly regained strength, the UNSC adopted a revised version of its original emblem shortly after the war.[86] The UNSC's rebuilding efforts were spearheaded by the symbolic commissioning of the UNSC's most powerful warship, the UNSC Infinity, in February 2557. A dramatic modernization of the UNSC's military assets has been ongoing, with new warships implementing both Covenant and Forerunner technologies for use against humanity's enemies. While the reconstruction of humanity's territories continued for many years after the end of the Covenant War, various Covenant remnants, most prominently a group led by Jul 'Mdama, defied the truce between humans and Sangheili and arose to threaten the UNSC. In July 2557, the ongoing conflict against the new Covenant was joined by the Didact and his Promethean constructs due to an encounter on the shield world Requiem.[96]

Created uprising

Main article: Created uprising

"The UNSC is gone!"
— Warmaster Atriox to Cortana during Battle for Zeta Halo.[97]

Following October 28, 2558 the UNSC was largely immobilized by the Created when Cortana and her Guardians took over Earth and most human colonies.[98] UNSC expeditionary forces that managed to avoid the Created's Guardians were able to regroup with the Swords of Sanghelios on Sanghelios.[99]

Already crippled by the Created and fleeing, the UNSC's flagship, UNSC Infinity, and several other ships were defeated by the Banished at Installation 07 in 2559.[100] What remains of the UNSC is scattered across human space in disconnected pockets, without the ability to effect much change or communicate back to Earth.[101]

Later history

By 2589, the former UNSC stronghold of Reach had been re-terraformed and resettled.[102]

Military assets

Technology

Main articles: Human technology, UNSC Naval technology

By the time the Covenant War began, humanity, and thus the UNSC, had reached Tier 3 of the Forerunner civilization rank system. Humanity's rank continued to rise due to the capture of Covenant technology and equipment, which was studied and adapted for human needs. The very best and cutting edge of UNSC equipment was supplied to the SPARTAN-II project. Human technology was innovative, rather than reverse-engineered from Forerunner technology. This meant humanity remained flexible in their technical expertise, despite being hundreds of years behind the Covenant.[103] One such example of ingenuity was the energy shielding technology adapted and improved for use on the MJOLNIR armor.

Public perception

A UNSC propaganda poster on display at the Corbulo Academy of Military Science.

"We are UNSC! Today. Tomorrow. Forever."
— General Daniel Black quoting the poem "Forward Unto Dawn" in a UNSC recruitment video.[104]

The UNSC's pre-Covenant War and wartime policies were viewed with hostility by the civilian populace, especially within rebel movements. Starting with the implementation of the Cole Protocol and martial law, the UNSC's political takeover of the UEG and CMA branches and its generally authoritarian military policies championed over the course of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC's public image has been stained by rebel and civilian allegations of fascism, totalitarianism and oppression.[105][106]

These allegations are not completely baseless, considering most of this perceived UNSC-directed oppression lies with poor administration in the Outer Colonies, which has led to violent food riots perpetrated by proto-rebellious groups of dissatisfied colonial workers suffering from hunger and poverty at the hands of corporate planetary control.[107]

The UNSC also limits the freedom of the press to an extent, a measure put in place by ONI's Section Two after the Inner Colony Wars—allegedly to prevent humanity from tearing itself apart from within.[108] ONI also exerts almost complete control over information about xenoarchaeological findings;[62] any scientists studying alien artifacts are drafted to serve under ONI's supervision.[109] Nepotism is notably prevalent within the organization,[110][111] sometimes openly; Corbulo Academy of Military Science was based around the concept of training the offspring of high-ranked military and government officials as commissioned officers.[112]

Production notes

During the development of Halo: Combat Evolved, one working name for the UNSC was the UNSF - or United Nations Space Force.[113]

Trivia

Language Equivalent
Flag of France.png
French 		Commandement Spatial des Nations Unies (CSNU) in Halo: Combat Evolved, in the Halo novels until Halo: The Cole Protocol, and in Halo Legends.

United Nations Space Command (UNSC) in almost all media since Halo 2.

Flag of Spain.png
Spanish 		Full name: Comando Espacial de las Naciones Unidas

Acronym: CENU

German Flag.png
German 		Full name: Weltraumkommando der Vereinten Nationen

Acronym: WVN

  • In reality, "UNSC" is an acronym for the United Nations Security Council. The BBC accidentally once used a Halo UNSC logo in a broadcast about the United Nations Security Council.[114] The video on the BBC website was quickly removed.
  • The UNSC's motto is derived from that of the British Royal Marines, "Per Mare, Per Terram,": "By Sea, By Land."
  • While the new UNSC emblem introduced in Halo 4 is canonically a new symbol the UNSC adopted in the post-war era instead of an artistic retcon of the classic design,[86] all Halo 4 multiplayer maps set during the Covenant War feature the post-war emblem. However, the original, Covenant War-era symbol is appropriately featured in Halo 2: Anniversary multiplayer maps (e.g. Bloodline) and other uses, including labels on vehicles.[115] Conversely, the post-war logo appears in the Halo 2: Anniversary campaign stamped on crates on Cairo Station.[116] Due to a lighting glitch in The Master Chief Collection, the war-era UNSC emblem can be seen on the bridge of the UNSC Infinity in the cutscene at the end of the Halo 4 mission Reclaimer.

Gallery

  • The UNSC Logo used as Halo 4's loading screen.

    The UNSC Logo used as Halo 4's loading screen.

  • The original UNSC emblem, used until the Human-Covenant War's conclusion.

    The original UNSC emblem, used until the Human-Covenant War's conclusion.

  • The most recent incarnation of the stylized wordmark.

    The most recent incarnation of the stylized wordmark.

  • The UNSC roundel used on aircraft.

    The UNSC roundel used on aircraft.

  • The UNSC roundel used on ground vehicles.

    The UNSC roundel used on ground vehicles.

  • An emblem associated with space assets.

    An emblem associated with space assets.

  • A post-war UNSC insignia possibly associated with the Spartan branch.

    A post-war UNSC insignia possibly associated with the Spartan branch.

  • An alternate, slimmer, version of the UNSC logo utilised in 2526 at the Corbulo Academy of Military Science.

    An alternate, slimmer, version of the UNSC logo utilised in 2526 at the Corbulo Academy of Military Science.

  • UNSC poster from 2560.

    UNSC poster from 2560.

List of appearances

Sources

  1. ^ a b c d Halo Waypoint - Universe, Factions, UNSC (Retrieved on Jan 19, 2021) [local archive] [external archive]
  2. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition), p. 285
  3. ^ a b Halo 4, Spartan Ops
  4. ^ Halo: First Strike, p. 104
  5. ^ Halo: Glasslands, page 209
  6. ^ Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, p. 114
  7. ^ Halo Waypoint, Characters "Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood is the UNSC Navy’s highest ranking officer and Chairman of the influential UNSC Security Council."
  8. ^ Colonial Militia emblem from licensed Halo products
  9. ^ a b Halo.bungie.org: Interview with Frank O'Connor and Robert McLees
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Xbox.com, Halo Storyline (Retrieved on Apr 24, 2008) [local archive] [external archive]
  11. ^ a b c Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual - 8: UNSC Organization
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 52-53
  13. ^ Halo 2, campaign level Metropolis
  14. ^ Halo: Contact Harvest, chapter 15
  15. ^ Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 120-121
  16. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, chapter 15
  17. ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, p. 123
  18. ^ Halo: Glasslands, chapter 13
  19. ^ a b Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 122-123
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 62
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 56-57
  22. ^ a b c d e f Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 61
  23. ^ Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 12-121
  24. ^ a b c Halo Waypoint, UNSC (Retrieved on Apr 30, 2021) [archive]
  25. ^ halo.bungie.org, Frank O'Connor/Robt McLees Interview - August 2008 (Retrieved on Apr 18, 2022) [archive]
  26. ^ a b c d e f g h Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 124-126
  27. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 104
  28. ^ Halo: First Strike, chapter 11
  29. ^ Halo: Escalation, issue 1
  30. ^ Halo: Glasslands, chapter 11
  31. ^ a b Halo: Contact Harvest, chapter 2
  32. ^ Halo Waypoint, Dimah Tchakova (Retrieved on Jun 30, 2021) [archive]
  33. ^ Halo: Warfleet, page 40-41
  34. ^ a b Halo: Fleet Battles - Core Rulebook, page 9
  35. ^ Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 112
  36. ^ a b c d e f g h Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 130-132
  37. ^ Halo: Contact Harvest, chapter 7
  38. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 58-59
  39. ^ a b c d e f g h Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 133-135
  40. ^ Halo 5: Guardians: Limited Edition, Dossier - Holly Tanaka
  41. ^ Halo: Escalation, issue 17
  42. ^ a b c d e f g Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 136-138
  43. ^ a b c d Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 60
  44. ^ Halo 4, campaign level Midnight
  45. ^ Halo: Reach, multiplayer map Tempest
  46. ^ Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 113
  47. ^ Halo: Reach, AMX-4 and AMX-42 decals
  48. ^ a b c d e f g h Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 127-129
  49. ^ a b c d e f g Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 63
  50. ^ a b c d e Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 64-65
  51. ^ Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 32
  52. ^ Halo Waypoint, Spartans (Retrieved on Apr 21, 2021) [archive]
  53. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 74-75
  54. ^ Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 34
  55. ^ Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Have S'Moa (Retrieved on Jun 30, 2021) [archive]
  56. ^ Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide, page 33
  57. ^ Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, page 32-33
  58. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 37
  59. ^ a b c Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 21
  60. ^ Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide, page 228
  61. ^ Halo Mythos, page 52
  62. ^ a b c Halo Encyclopedia (2011 edition), page 42
  63. ^ Halo: Contact Harvest, Prologue
  64. ^ Halo Wars Timeline
  65. ^ Halo: Reach, data pad 11
  66. ^ Dr. Halsey's personal journal
  67. ^ Halo Mythos, page 76
  68. ^ Halo Mythos, page 128
  69. ^ Halo Waypoint - Cosplay Guide: The Rookie
  70. ^ Halo: Contact Harvest, p. 274-278
  71. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, Chapter 11, page 98 (2001 paperback); page 117 (2010 paperback)
  72. ^ Halo Legendary Crate - Data Drop #2: Naval Records Archives
  73. ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "Palace Hotel", page 358
  74. ^ Halo Waypoint - Ten Twenty
  75. ^ Halo 2, campaign level Metropolis
  76. ^ Halo Legendary Crate - Data Drop #2: First Twelve Hours
  77. ^ Halo 2, campaign level Delta Halo
  78. ^ a b Halo 2, campaign level Gravemind
  79. ^ Halo 3: ODST, campaign level Coastal Highway
  80. ^ Halo: Broken Circle (Google Books), page 286: "He has taken what is left of the Covenant fleets and is heading for the human world, Earth. He is seeking the Ark." - G'torik 'Klemmee
  81. ^ a b Halo 3, campaign level Crow's Nest: "The Prophet of Truth's ships breached the Lunar perimeter. Smashed what was left of the Home Fleet. Terrestrial casualties from the subsequent bombardment were... extreme."
  82. ^ a b Halo 3, campaign level The Covenant
  83. ^ Halo 3, campaign level The Ark
  84. ^ Halo 3, campaign level Epilogue
  85. ^ Halo 4, Infinity introductory cinematic
  86. ^ a b c The Halo Bulletin - 7.25.12 (Defunct copy on Wayback Machine)
  87. ^ Halo Waypoint: Catalog Interaction (Query Answer: Human records indicate transition to noncombatant administrative control [ref: UEG] [January 8, 2553]. No notable adjustment in military [bureaucratic tactical] behavior and scope of authority.)
  88. ^ Halo 4, multiplayer map Skyline
  89. ^ Halo: New Blood, pages 17-18 (Google Play edition)
  90. ^ Halo: Fractures, Into the Fire, page 301
  91. ^ Halo: Glasslands
  92. ^ Halo: Last Light
  93. ^ Halo: The Thursday War
  94. ^ The Commissioning
  95. ^ Halo Mythos, page 125
  96. ^ Halo 4
  97. ^ Halo Infinite, campaign level Silent Auditorium
  98. ^ Halo 5: Guardians
  99. ^ Halo Waypoint - Canon Fodder: Driving Force
  100. ^ Halo Infinite, campaign level Warship Gbraakon
  101. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 17
  102. ^ Halo: Reach, campaign level Lone Wolf
  103. ^ Halo: The Flood, p. 132
  104. ^ Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn: Recruitment
  105. ^ Halo 3: ODST, Mombasa Streets
  106. ^ Halo: The Cole Protocol, p. ??
  107. ^ Halo: The Cole Protocol, p. 106-107
  108. ^ Halo Graphic Novel, Second Sunrise over New Mombasa
  109. ^ Halo: Evolutions, "From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal"
  110. ^ Spartan Madsen's biography
  111. ^ Halo: Escalation, Issue #5
  112. ^ Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
  113. ^ Twitter, Joseph Staten (@joestaten): "Now seems like the right time to bring up the fact that one of the working titles for the #Halo U.N.S.C. was the U.N.S.F. or “Space Force”. But we decided that sounded a little too sci-fi silly. #GoAirForce" (Retrieved on May 10, 2023) [archive]
  114. ^ YouTube: BBC News FAIL - claims Halo logo is for United Nations Security Command (Newswatch, 1.6.12)
  115. ^ IGN.com: Zanzibar Remake 'Stonetown' Rocks in Halo: The Master Chief Collection – IGN First
  116. ^ This screenshot

See also

v • d • e
 
United Nations Space Command
Leadership
Organisation
Personnel
History, culture and traditions
Equipment

v • d • e
 
Polities, organizations, and civilizations
Contemporary
Interstellar/Interplanetary organizations Banished • Covenant • Created • Children of Oth Sonin • Concert of Worlds • Frieden • Insurrectionists (Arcadia/Harvest • New Colonial Alliance • People's Occupation • People's Occupation Government • Secessionist Union (Eridanus secessionists) • United Rebel Front) Koslovics • San'Shyuum flotilla (Dhas Bhasvod's Covenant • Tem'Bhetek's faction) • Unified Earth Government (Colonial Authority • United Nations Space Command)
Planetary/Local organizations Castoffs • Defenders of the Sanctum • Eridanus Government • Gao Republic • Insurrectionists (Bandusa • Freedom and Liberation Party • Galodew Emancipation • Gao Liberation Force • Sundered Legion) • Joyous Exultation Covenant • Khabnathwa • Neo-Frieden • Prospector Party • Sedran government • Stewards • Swords of Sanghelios • United Nations (Nations) • Unggoy government • Ussans • Venezian Militia
Private organizations 'Gajat mercenaries • Shields of Requiem
Religious organizations Covenant remnants ('Mdama's Covenant • 'Nyon's Covenant • Keepers of the One Freedom • Vol's Covenant) • 'Refumee's heretics • Servants of the Abiding Truth
Ancient
Interstellar organizations Ecumene • Human-San'Shyuum alliance • Ancestors
Planetary/Local organizations Council of City States • Erde-Tyrene civilization • Sedaaro • Reformists (Keepers of the Dawn) • Stoics • Tudejsa
Protogenic
Italics denote entities that are confirmed or assumed to be defunct given currently available information.
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