Black body suit

This article is based on canon information, but the article's title is conjectural and/or uses descriptions as the title, as there is currently no official name for the subject.

This article is about the vacuum-enabled light body armor. For other armored suits similar in appearance, see ODST (disambiguation).

Black body suit
SPARTAN-II Fred-104 wearing a black body suit.
Production overview
Type:	Body armor
Role(s):	Vacuum suit, special operations
Technical specifications
Feature(s):	Light polymer armor Thermal signature masking Encrypted communications Heads-up display Motion tracker

This body suit is a vacuum-enabled suit of light body armor used by special operators in the United Nations Space Command for operations in vacuum environments. They are used by operators within Naval Special Warfare Command, including some use by the SPARTAN-IIs.

Overview

Design details

Black body suits are black, form-fitting, suits of polymer body armor with ability to deflect small-caliber rounds. The suit is equipped with cooling and heating units that mask the infrared signature of the wearer, as well as creating a comfortable environment. The helmet has encrypted communications gear and a heads-up display, along with thermal sensors and motion detectors. The whole suit is fully sealed and gas tight, making them wearable in vacuum for up to fifteen minutes when equipped with an oxygen tank.

Unfortunately, the suit's general complexity leads to complications. Over prolonged periods of time the suit will become very uncomfortable to wear, is difficult to repair in the field, and is often in need of repairs. The suit also limits the wearer's motion, as remarked by Spartan Kelly-087 during Operation: TALON.

For covert missions, the suits' bulk is small enough that they can be worn beneath utility coveralls. While the bulk is still evident, it is enough for a person to pass cursory inspection from a distance as a worker.

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  Orthographic views of the black body suit (male variant).

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  Orthographic views of the black body suit (female variant).

Usage

These suits saw extensive use during the 2520s. They were used by the Spartan-IIs in several missions before they received their MJOLNIR armor. One of these missions, Operation: TALON, involved infiltrating an Insurrectionist base in the asteroid Eridanus Secundus in the Eridanus system. Throughout the later portions of 2525 the Spartans were deployed on numerous missions to "tie up loose ends" for the UNSC including counterinsurgency operations on Jericho VII and at the Roosevelt military base, until they eventually recieved their iconic MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor at the Damascus Materials Testing Facility on November 27, 2525. It is unclear whether the Spartans continued to use their body suits on these subsequent missions. Reflecting on these missions, Frederic-104 noted that clad in black budy suits the Spartans looked like "any other NavSpecWar team".

Production notes

In the Halo: Fall of Reach comic adaptation, the suits' helmets are modeled after those of the ODST armor. In Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series, the helmets are changed to a unique design while the bodysuits themselves are almost identical to the base techsuit of the GEN2 Mjolnir armor.

Gallery

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  Blue Team wearing the suits in the Halo: Fall of Reach comic.

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  Blue Team assaulting a room wearing the body suits.

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  The Spartans capturing Watts.

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  Blue Team wearing black body suits.

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  Black body suit-clad Blue Team members capture Colonel Robert Watts.

List of appearances

• Halo: The Fall of Reach (First appearance)
• Halo: First Strike (Indirect mention)
• Halo: Fall of Reach
  • Boot Camp
• Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series