Lancer-class fast-attack corvette

The Lancer-class fast-attack corvette is a corvette employed by the Colonial Military Authority and later the United Nations Space Command.

Design details
Lancer corvettes were the fastest warships available to the CMA Navy and UNSC Navy at the time of its introduction. Long and sleek, they evoked speed even when docked.

The primary armament of the Lancer are rapid-fire naval coilguns, which allowed it to harass large Covenant ships from a relatively safe distance, and eliminate smaller vessels before they could get into plasma torpedo range. Its relatively small magazine capacity means that a typical strategy is for Lancer squadrons to "dump rods" early in the engagement and then attempt to disengage to behind the main fleet and replenish their stores.

Service history
Over-gunned and under-ranged for most Insurrection-era deployments, the Lancer-class found its calling in the months and years following the Covenant assault on Harvest.

The class’s limited endurance (both in terms of ship stores and fuel) restricted their use in wartime expeditionary operations, and most were relegated to internal patrol and planetary defense picket duties. Many were even stripped of their slipspace drives, with the extra space used for additional ammunition and crew comforts.

Production notes
The Lancer-class' appearance originated as a part of design exploration exercise for UNSC ships, done as a collaboration between the narrative and concept teams at 343 Industries, during the development of Halo Infinite and the 2022 edition of the Halo Encyclopedia. This was the result of a fortiutous alignment of interests, which allowed them to leverage the ideas generated for multiple purposes; the narrative team wished to further flesh out the UNSC fleet, while the concept team needed to craft ship designs for Infinite, which would ultimately culminate in the seen in-game.

Trivia
A "lancer" is a cavalryman who fought with a lance, a long spear designed for use on horseback; they were often employed as shock units.