ORION Project

The ORION Project was an Office of Naval Intelligence Naval Speical Warfare program, overseen by the Colonial Military Administration, tasked with producing special advanced warfare squads to combat the Insurrection. They became experts in counter-insurgency operations, assassinations, raids, and eliminating high value targets (all considered black operations). ORION Project personnel utilized HEV orbital drops, Hornets, Armed Assault Boats (which were replaced by the HEV), and Pelican dropships to insert into mission areas. 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.

Operations

 * Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE

Known ORION Project personnel

 * Avery Johnson
 * Nolan Byrne (suggested)
 * James Lee
 * Gilly
 * Morales
 * Gladys Wilson
 * Franklin Mendez (possible)
 * Marvin Mobuto (possible)

SPARTAN-I
The original Spartan Project was created to test genetic enhancements on volunteers from the armed forces. . These enhancements were the precursors to the enhancements used in the Spartan-II program. The mortality rate for those injected was high, a factor which contributed largely to the failure of the program. Those who survived the injection(s) had a greatly increased rate of mental problems later in life. It is not known at this time how many soldiers participated in this program. However, it is mentioned that there are several offspring known as Spartan 1.1's, some of which may have been chosen for the Spartan-II program.

Two SPARTAN-Is had major roles during the Human Covenant War: Avery Johnson and Nolan Byrne, becoming the first two Humans to face the Covenant in military combat (during the raid on a Covenant Missionary Vessel), as well as during the subsequent Battle of Harvest. It is known that Avery Johnson would rise to the rank of Sergeant Major, as well as being the last (?) Human to die during the Human-Covenant War (although the Master Chief was assumed to have died afterwards), while the fate of Nolan Byrne is unknown.

Spartan 1.1
The children of Spartan 1.0s are called Spartan 1.1s, including Janissary James and Kevin Morales. There are sixteen 1.1s. They have much of the same augmentations as their parents, though without the same military training. Some of them tried to create their own army to fight the Covenant, but just as they were about to bring the fight to the Covenant, the Covenant invaded Earth.

Equipment
Members of the ORION Project, being Special Operators, were given highly advanced equipment, such as the M99 Special Application Scoped Rifle, a man-portable Gauss rifle.

Trivia

 * Project Orion was also a spacecraft program in the real world. It was the first engineering design study of spacecraft powered by nuclear pulse propulsion. Its supporters felt that it had great potential for space travel, but it lost political approval because of concerns with fallout from its propulsion. The Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963 is generally acknowledged to have ended the project.
 * Spartan-I's seem to be the only known Humans to refer to their successors as "Spartan 2.0s" rather than "SPARTAN-IIs."
 * The ORION Project was apparently classified by Section 0, as even in 2524 the majority of UNSC personnel had no knowledge about it.
 * It is unknown how Spartan-I's were codenamed or even if they were codenamed at all. It seems unlikely they adopted formalized codenames, given the fact that all known Spartan-I's used their normal names in operational circumstances.