Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle

Human Entry Vehicles are small orbital insertion vehicles used by the UNSC, and namely, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. However, it should be noted that SPARTAN IIs are also fully trained and qualified in the use of such insertion vehicles.

Usage
HEVs are used to transport individual troops from a ship in a rapid assault and land them at an objective. Two advantages of these are that they are harder to hit with anti aircraft fire and they are faster and more efficent than assault boats or Pelican transports. Each pod bears the name of an individual trooper, for identification should the pod be destroyed, or should the information be needed for tactical reasons.

UNSC insertation protocols state that the command unit of an ODST mision must land first, so that the troops could be organized as quickly as possible. The HEV of a command unit is equipped with a lot of gear that the regular HEVs don't have, including high-powered imaging gear and the Class C military AI required to operate it. Wellsley was one such AI. During Halo 2, the Master Chief along with an Orbital Drop Shock Troopers platoon made a combat insertion onto Delta Halo and, as would be expected, Cortana was more then capable of taking the place of the Class C (and presumably 'dumb') AI in this role.



Composition
HEVs are vaguely box shaped and are made of Titanium-A, Lead Foil, and a ceramic skin. Some of this skin burns away during entry of the atmosphere. Because of that, the pods sometimes become fatally hot. Trooper pods are seen in the level Delta Halo. They use a parachute to allow for a softer landing, but they sometimes break away. The HEV automatically deploys a backup chute, but they aren't as effective, and deaths still result.

Content
The Human Entry Vehicles also contain ample supplies for an ODST to support himself or herself for quite some time. It contains an assortment of Weapons, not limited to Assault Rifles, Shotguns, Battle Rifles, SMGs, Sniper Rifles and Rocket Launchers, as well as Grenades. In addition, the HEVs contain a supply of MREs for food and a Cubicle for shelter.

The command HEV contains some high powered imaging equipment and the Class C AI needed to oporate it.

Long Range Pods
Human Entry Vehicles are designed for high-orbit launches. They were never intended for launches from deep space or slipspace. However, around 2545 upgraded HEVs came into service, called Long Range Stealth Orbital Insertion Pods. These pods are used only on stealth missions, and are equipped with Stealth Ablative Coating. Most importantly, they can be launched at a target from Slipspace.

Orbital Insertion Pods
The Covenant eventually created their own type of HEVs, called Orbital Insertion Pods. It is unclear if there is a Covenant organization similar to the ODSTs. However, these HEVs are seen in the Halo 2 level Outskirts, as well as the original Halo 2 2003 E3 trailer.

Similarities
The HEV pods show similarities to blue and red pod things in Oni.

The concept of dropping marines from orbit originated in Robert E. Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers (also the novel that introduced power armor); the Mobile Infantry of the book were literally shot out of a cannon from an orbital ship and onto the planet below. The HEVs of Halo act in a similar fashion to those described in the book. There are similar pods used by the of Space Marines of Warhammer 40,000.