Armor accessories/GRD

"Project SCLERA's exclusive P237-THEIATEK optical suite."

- Official description

GRD is an optical attachment that is compatible with the AKIS helmet, and can be used in conjunction with the a CBRN module.

In-game information
GRD will be an unlockable attachment for the AKIS helmet in Season 5 of Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Production notes
The GRD attachment first appeared in promotional material for Halo: Reach's Defiant Map Pack in 2011, where it was worn by a player using the AKIS helmet, in three screenshots of the map Condemned. As well as AKIS with the GRD and CBRN attachments, this player also wore the unreleased EXO/TSCS chest piece. In the absence of an official name, the Halo community took to calling the helmet itself "GRD", a nickname which 343 Industries would eventually official adopt for the attachment.

A lack of official communication about or acknowledgement of the helmet and attachments from Bungie or 343 Industries led to a great deal of speculation about how they might be released, with some even suggesting that it could already be unlocked through some esoteric method. Eventually, these rumours were proven false when, on February 11th, 2012, 343 Industries employee David Ellis confirmed that 343 had intended to release them alongside the Anniversary Map Pack, but that it had been cut due to time and resource constraints. Ultimately, neither the AKIS helmet and its attachments, nor the EXO/TSCS chest piece were ever released for Reach on the Xbox 360.

The Spartan dolls Easter egg in the Anniversary Map Pack features dolls of Spartans wearing the same armor configuration as the player in the Defiant Map Pack screenshots, including the AKIS helmet with GRD attachment. This was a deliberate acknowledgement of the armor on 343 Industries' part. This doll object was later made available as a placeable object in Halo 5: Guardians' Forge mode, in which it is known as the "5th Spartan" doll.

In 2019, it was announced that Halo: Reach would be added to Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and that The Master Chief Collection would be ported to PC, with Reach being the first of the games in the collection to release on the platform. This brought with it renewed interest in the unreleased armor, with many requesting that it be included in the game's re-release. 343 Industries would officially address these requests in a development update in July of that year, saying that they "[were] currently investigating it but [could not] commit to it being in the game at [that] time" and also noting that they were interested in expanding the pool of customization items in each game, potentially even including new armors.

Later the same year, a modder by the name of Gamecheat13 discovered customisation renders for two cut armour sets in the game files of the second Halo Insider flight (dubbed the "FireFlight") of Halo: The Master Chief Collection's PC port of Halo: Reach, and also unearthed the internal codenames for both sets:  and. The  set featured the AKIS helmet (and three attachment combinations) paired with an unidentified chest piece, while the   set included the EXO/TSCS chest piece with the Mariner helmet, also with three attachments.

Eventually, in September 2020, it was confirmed in an MCC Development Update that these two armour sets would be making their way into Halo: The Master Chief Collection as part of Season 4: Reclaimer. This update also revealed the final name for the helmet (AKIS) and its attachments: and GRD and CBRN. Unfortunately, issues were encountered during development that prevented AKIS and Mariner from meeting 343's quality bar in time for inclusion into Season 4. Consequently, the two helmets were pushed back to Season 5.

List of apperances

 * Halo: Reach
 * Anniversary Map Pack
 * Halo: The Master Chief Collection port
 * Halo 5: Guardians