Headhunters

''Headhunters redirects here. For the Halo: Evolutions story, see Headhunters (short story).''

The Headhunters are a covert group of SPARTAN-III special operations squads, later reorganized to include SPARTAN-IV operatives as well. Two Headhunter teams participated in a failed mission on an unidentified Covenant-occupied moon, with notable members including Jonah and Roland.

Background
Only SPARTAN-IIIs who had survived two or more specially assigned training missions would be evaluated for induction into the Headhunters. Once an overall list of potential candidates was compiled, each soldier's personal files and mission reports were analyzed against a set series of parameters calculated by the top Office of Naval Intelligence specialists at Beta-5. Once selected, candidates were separated from their fellow Spartans and shipped to a special training facility on the far side of Onyx. After three months, the soldiers were broken into four two-person teams. These teams were chosen through a series of detailed evaluations and an intense interview process meant to devise the best possible pairings between members of the group.

For the next two years, the Headhunters would go through seven months of supervised field exercises, followed by six months of real-world wartime insertions. These SPARTAN-IIIs would then perform missions far behind enemy lines and would likely die in combat. At the height of the program there was a maximum contingent of six squads—six teams with a total of seventeen soldiers rotating in to fill gaps when one or both members of a team were lost.

Following the Human-Covenant War, the Headhunter program remained active, although changes and adjustments to its structure have been made. The Spartan branch and ONI maintain a selective list of SPARTAN-III and SPARTAN-IV supersoldiers that may be deployed into two-person or single-operative teams on highly classified missions, if need be.

Equipment
During the Human-Covenant War, the Headhunters wore a more advanced version of the standard-issue Semi-Powered Infiltration armor used by most SPARTAN-IIIs. This armor includes motion trackers, energy shielding, VISR technology, and a prototype active camouflage module. The active camouflage system can only be sustained for three and a half to four minutes and diverts power from other systems while it recharges.

Known Headhunters

 * Jonah
 * Roland

Trivia
The concept of the Headhunters is similar to that of the SPARTAN-II program's Black and Gray Teams. All three groups are separated from their fellow Spartans and are sent far behind enemy lines for special covert operations. The Headhunters were a secret even to their peers, though the SPARTAN-IIs are aware of Black and Gray Teams' existence.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * Headhunters
 * Halo: Spartan Strike