Prowler

You may also be looking for the Jiralhanae Prowler.

The UNSC Prowler is a stealth corvette classification within the United Nations Space Command. They are used exclusively by the Office of Naval Intelligence and are crewed by select ONI personnel.

Role
In a similar role to its namesake, it is used to gather electronic intelligence, and its primary role is to stay hidden while safely gathering such intelligence, not to charge into battle, as that would invariably be an irreversibly fatal tactic due to its light weapons and armour. Because of its tactical value and potential to change the outcome of any given combat situation, every UNSC battlegroup had at least one Prowler assigned to its ranks.

The Prowler's only combat role, beside active combat monitoring and recording, is the discreet laying minefields of stealthed nuclear HORNET Mines in orbital regions. Enemy ships that unknowingly enter these minefields can be destroyed by a single Prowler, allowing the remainder of the UNSC forces to move in and finish off the survivors with MAC strikes and Archer missiles. This stratagem allowed Battle Group Stalingrad to wage a short but devastating battle against the Covenant at Onyx, destroying significantly more ships than their own number, an extremely rare outcome among UNSC-Covenant engagements.

Stealth systems

 * Ablative baffles
 * Counter-electronic systems
 * Stealth ablative coating
 * Texture buffers

Trivia

 * SPARTAN Gray Team was able to pilot a Prowler, meaning a prowler could be piloted by a crew of only three people.
 * The possessed active camouflage systems, which were not common among UNSC or Covenant starships. The technology was most likely experimental, since the camouflage could not keep up with the constantly changing atmosphere of the gas giant Viperidae.