Starship Shielding

Summary
The only known starships to have shields are Covenant ships.

Nearly all of the Covenant vessels are protected by a highly resistant energy shield that can recharge over a period of time. Covenant Starships' shield's are a light-gray color and can recover with a similar graying tinge. The shields can take a vast amount of punishment, and can recharge very quickly. They can absorb anything including hundreds of Archer Missiles and even a Shiva nuclear missile. The only UNSC weapon capable of penetrating a Starship's Shields is the MAC cannon. Even then, it takes usually three rounds to drop its shields. However, a Super-MAC round can easily punch a hole through a Covenant starship's shield. The only flaw of Covenant Starship shields is that when the vessel fires its Plasma weapons, the ship needs to drop a section of its shields for a few seconds in order to let the plasma bolt out This weakness was demonstrated when a group of Spartans destroyed a small Covenant ship in Halo: Fall of Reach, by going inside of the ship and planting an explosive. Additionally, when a Covenant ship unloads troops and supplies, it must lower its shields to let dropships out.

Plasma and other energy weapons, on the other hand can, like other Covenant shielding, easily disable the shields. It must be noted that the size, and class of the vessel determines the strength of the shields. Also, even though the shield can absorb a direct nuclear missile, if it detonates "inside" the shield, the blast will be magnified. It has been observed exploding inside the shield, and destroying the ship before the shields collapse. The pressure and heat released would bounce off the shields back into the ship to further damage it.

Related Links

 * MJOLNIR Armor
 * Elite Personal Energy Shield
 * Jackal Personal Arm Shield
 * Bubble Shield
 * Overshields
 * Regenerator
 * Stationary Shield Generator
 * Portable Shield Generator
 * Covenant starships