United Nations Space Command

Summary
The United Nations Space Command (UNSC), is the prime human government in the Halo universe.

The UNSC was formed by the United Nations when over-population on Earth started becoming a problem in the early 22nd century. The UNSC is run by HIGHCOM and is Earth's premiere defense against the Covenant. The Navy houses the divisions of Marines, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, and Office of Naval Intelligence, and the fleet. Originally designed to keep the peace between neighboring planets and star systems, when certain rebellious factions began to rise in the late 2510s the UNSC was forced to police it's colonies to keep privateers, and pirates from raiding them. After Harvest colony was destroyed, one badly damaged UNSC ship returned to tell the tale of monstrous alien ships that utterly destroyed the colony. The UNSC doubled it's shipbuilding to bolster themselves against the Covenant, but it was useless, for the Covenant's technology was far superior to mankind's. The UNSC fortified major positions such as Reach, the UNSC's main shipyards and command center, and Earth. So far, the UNSC is losing the Covenant war, and the only end in sight seems to be utter annihilation.

There are several breakaway factions of the UNSC as well, including the Eridanus Rebels.

Formation
The United Nations Space Command was formed as the result of a series of brutal wars across the Solar System between 2160 and 2164, most promiently among them the Jovian Moons Campaign, the Rain Forest Wars, and a series of battles on Mars. These conflicts were centered around UN clashes with dissident political movements, the most important of which were the "Koslovics" and the "Frieden." The Koslovics—supporters of neo-Communist hardliner Vladimir Koslov—sought a return to the glory days of Communism and the elimination of corporate and capitalist influence, particularly in orbital facilities and offworld colonies. The Frieden movement was a resurgence of fascism, springing from anti-Koslovic sentiment that had taken root in the Jovian colonies. "Frieden" literally means "peace" - in this case, they believed that peace could be achieved only once the "oppressors on Terra Firma" were eliminated.

Lasting over four years, the massive wars raged across Earth and in numerous off-planet colonies. The brutal three-way war between UN, Koslovic, and Frieden forces sparked a massive buildup of arms and troops within the United Nations. Utilizing aggressive space-based Marine drops, the UN defeated Koslovic forces on Mars, which would pave the way for the future incorporation of Marine units as primary ground combat elements. It was at this point that the United Nations Space Command was first created to oversee UN deployments across the solar system. The UNSC proceeded to use its overwhelming military might to crush all remaining Koslovic and Frieden holdouts across the system, ending with a single Unified Earth Government under the control of the UNSC.

Interstellar Colonization
Massive overpopulation and a huge military with no enemy to fight presented immediate problems for the postwar United Nations Space Command. Utilizing the newly developed Shaw-Fujikawa Slipspace Drive, in 2310 the UNSC deployed a vast line of colony ships to colonize the nearest planets and systems, giving birth to the "Inner Colonies." Vast numbers of citizens and soldiers travel to these new colonies, stabilizing the overpopulation problem on Earth and giving the military new tasks to handle. As the first colonists are stringently selected, the Inner Colonies eventually formed an "elite" society of the best physical and mental human specimens.

By 2490 the UNSC had colonized over eight hundred worlds in the Orion arm of the galaxy.(ranging from fairly well-tamed planetary strongholds to tiny hinterland settlements). Outward expansion continued, and the Inner Colonies become a political and economic stronghold, though they relied heavily on raw materials supplied by the "Outer Colonies."

During this period, the planet Reach (orbiting Epsilon Eridani, right on Earth's metaphorical doorstep) became the UNSC's primary Naval yard and training academy. Reach was a major producer of warships and colony vessels, as well as a training ground for covert operatives and Special Forces.

However, this expansion did not come without cost, as ideological and political causes resulted in many of the Outer Colonies engaging in open rebellion. A series of brushfire wars across UNSC space sprung up, with hundreds more threatening to erupt as well. by 2517, UNSC estimates put massive, overwhelming and uncontrollable rebellion at less than twenty years away. This resulted in the start of the Spartan-II program, to quickly and quietly deal with insurrections without incurring massive civilian casualties.

Covenant War
On October 7, 2525, A UNSC battle group consisting of the UNSC Heracles, UNSC Arabia and UNSC Vostok entered the Harvest system and discovered that everything on the planet has been completely incinerated and the surface melted down to glass. In orbit around the remains of the colony world is a single alien ship, which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying both Arabia and Vostok and badly damaging the Heracles. Intercepted communications identify the enemy as The Covenant. The message "Your destruction is the will of the Gods... and we are their instrument" is broadcast in UNSC language.

Vice Admiral Preston Cole mobilizes the largest fleet in human history to retake Harvest. Cole's war fleet engages the alien warship responsible for the decimation of the colony, scoring a victory (though the battle cost Cole two-thirds of his battle group). Only a last minute tactical inspiration turned the tide of battle. After returning to Earth, Cole-promoted to Admiral-learns that a number of outlying colonies have been destroyed, leaving behind no survivors. Cole begins to move his fleet around, trying to intercept the invaders. Ground and ship-to-ship battles begin in earnest, raging throughout the Outer Colonies.

By 2535, Cole's forces are hammered, despite his excellent leadership and tactical brilliance. It is simply a matter of being outgunned; Covenant kill ratios tend to top four to one in ship-to-ship combat. By 2535, virtually all of the Outer Colony worlds have been destroyed by the Covenant. The Cole Protocol is established by military order: all human vessels must ensure that Covenant forces do not find Earth.

In 2536, Covenant forces begin to swarm into the Inner Colonies. For several years the war falls into a pattern: humans win isolated battles, typically during ground operations, but at a horrible cost. In space combat, the humans are losing at a precipitous rate, and one by one, the colonies fall. 

By 2552, human forces are reduced to handful of planets near Earth, with Reach as their last stonghold. Covenant forces follow a UNSC destroyer with a sophisticated tracking device to Reach, and deploy a three-hundred ship fleet against the planet. Despite the heroic efforts of the human defenders and their massive orbital MAC stations, they are unable to prevent Covenant forces from landing on the planet, disabling planetary power generators, and leaving Reach helpless. The majority of the planet is glassed, and the fleet defending it is nearly totally wiped out.

Shortly after this battle, the Master Chief, on board the Pillar of Autumn, participated in the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. In the aftermath, he and Cortana, along with a small squad of human survivors and SPARTANs captured a Covenant flagship and pillaged the technologies within. In the process, they discover a massive fleet of Covenant ships heading toward the Sol system, and proceed to sabotage and destroy the fleet in a daring and costly assault.

On October 12, 2552, UNSC defense forces over Earth engaged the Prophet of Regret's fleet and destroyed most of it, in the process discovering that the Covenant had not actually located Earth, and instead had apparently stumbled across it unexpectedly. During the ground battle in New Mombasa, Regret makes an in-atmosphere slipspace jump, which is followed by the Master Chief and the frigate UNSC In Amber Clad to a second Halo. After the events on Delta Halo, the Master Chief returns to Earth on board a Forerunner ship to find it under attack by massive, overwhelming Covenant forces.

The announcement trailer to Halo 3 showed Earth thoroughly conquered at least in Africa and UNSC forces in Africa apparently overwhelmed by the Covenant onslaught there. It is unknown what or how many UNSC forces remain on Earth's other contionents or how many colonies and ships remain intact at this point.

UNSC Colony Systems, Worlds, and Cities
Sol System
 * Earth - Homeworld to Humanity, currently under attack by Covenant.
 * New Mombassa, Kenya
 * Old Mombassa, Kenya
 * Songnam, Korea
 * HighCom Facility Bravo-6 - Sydney, Australia
 * Diego Garcia
 * Zanzibar Island
 * Chawla Base - Boston MA, United States of America
 * The Moon
 * Luna OCS Academy


 * Mars
 * Chiron
 * Reyes-McLees Shipyards
 * New Legaspi


 * Jupiter
 * Jovian Moons

Epsilon Eridani System


 * Reach - Primary millitary instillation. Glassed by Covenant in 2552.
 * Highland Mountains
 * CASTLE Base
 * Camp Hathcock
 * Camp Independence
 * Fairchild Field
 * HighCom Armory Omega
 * Military Reservation 01478-B
 * Military Wilderness Training Preserve
 * ODG Facility A-331
 * Olympic Tower
 * Reach Station Gamma
 * Reach Naval Academy


 * Beta Gabriel

Sigma Octanus System


 * Sigma Octanus IV - still held by UNSC
 * Côte d'Azur

Eridanus Star System
 * Eridanus II - Glassed in 2530
 * Elysium City

Lambda Serpentis System


 * Jericho VII - Glassed in 2535

Harvest System


 * Harvest - Glassed by Covenant in 2525

Chi Ceti System


 * Chi Ceti IV
 * Damascus Testing Facility

Hellespont System


 * Troy - Glassed

Other Colonies


 * Biko - Glassed in 2525
 * Durban


 * Emerald Cove - Glassed in 2542


 * Harmony - Glassed


 * Draco III - Glassed


 * Paris IV - Glassed


 * Charybdis IX - still held by UNSC
 * Minister- still held by UNSC


 * Hydra System- still held by UNSC


 * Gilgamesh- still held by UNSC


 * Coral - Attacked by Covenant in 2552, current status unknown


 * New Constantinople - Glassed


 * Mamore - still held by UNSC


 * Crystal- still held by UNSC


 * Atlas Moons- still held by UNSC

UNSC bases


 * Fort York


 * Roosevelt Military Base

UNSC Weaponry
These are the weapons that the UNSC employs against the likes of The Covenant.

Note that all the handheld weapons in Halo 2 apart from grenades can be swapped with the appropriate class of soldiers's weapons.

Halo: Combat Evolved

 * Assault Rifle - MA5B Assault Rifle
 * Frag Grenade - M9 HE-DP Fragmentation Grenade
 * Pistol - M6D HE Pistol
 * Rocket Launcher - M19 SSM (SPNKr) Rocket Launcher
 * Shotgun - M90 Shotgun
 * Sniper Rifle - S2 AM Sniper Rifle
 * M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun - Mounted to Warthogs
 * Flamethrower - M7057 Defoliant Projector (PC Only)

Halo 2
(These are only new weapons to Halo 2 which are not in Halo: CE)
 * Battle Rifle - BR55 Battle Rifle
 * Gun Turret
 * Magnum - M6C Magnum
 * SMG - M7/Caseless Sub Machine Gun
 * M68 Gauss Cannon - Mounted to Warthogs

The Novels
The weapons exclusive to Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: The Flood and Halo: First Strike.

Handheld Weapons
 * Combat Knife
 * MA2B Assault Rifle
 * MA3 Assault Rifle
 * M6B Pistol
 * M6D HE Pistol
 * HMG-38 Rifle
 * C-7 Foaming Explosive
 * C-12 Shaped-charges

Missiles
 * Archer Missiles
 * Nova
 * Fury Tactical Nuclear Warhead
 * HAVOK Nuclear Warhead
 * Shiva Nuclear-tipped missile
 * ASGM-10 Missiles
 * ''ANVIL-II ASM
 * Argent V Missiles

Mines
 * Lotus Anti Tank-Mine
 * Antilon Anti-Personnel Mines
 * Moray Space Mines
 * Type 14 Magnetic/Anti-Tank Mine

Machine Guns
 * MLA Autocannon
 * M247 GP Machine Gun

Other
 * VX 7 Nerve Gas
 * Magnetic Accelerator Cannon
 * 102mm SC-HE Rocket Turret
 * Fougass
 * Satchel Charge

Land

 * Scorpion - M808B Main Battle Tank


 * Warthog - M12 LRV Jeep with mounted chaingun, rocket launcher or gauss cannon


 * Mongoose - All-Terrain Vehicle

Air

 * Pelican - D77-TC Dropship


 * Albatross - Larger dropship


 * Bumblebee - Escape pod


 * Longsword - C709 Space fighter


 * SkyHawk - Sub-orbital jet

UNSC Technologies
See: Technology

Carriers

 * UNSC Trafalgar - Supercarrier (Destroyed at Reach)


 * UNSC Atlas


 * UNSC Musashi (Destroyed at Reach)


 * UNSC Magellan

Cruisers

 * UNSC Leviathan - Marathon-class cruiser


 * UNSC Pillar of Autumn - Halcyon-class cruiser (Destroyed at Alpha Halo 04, fusion core detonation)


 * UNSC Dawn Under Heaven - Halcyon-class cruiser (Destroyed at Reach)


 * UNSC Hannibal (Destroyed at Reach)


 * UNSC Basra (Destroyed at Reach)


 * UNSC Republic

Destroyers

 *  UNSC Iroquois - commanded by Captain Keyes before he became a captain of the Pillar of Autumn.


 * UNSC Resolute


 *  UNSC Pioneer


 * UNSC Heracles


 * UNSC Lancelot (Assumed destroyed at Sigma Octanus IV or at Reach)


 * UNSC Minotaur (Destroyed at Reach)


 * UNSC Herodotus (Destroyed at Reach)


 * UNSC Tharsis (Destroyed at Reach)

Frigates

 * UNSC In Amber Clad - Commanded by Miranda Keyes, it was crashed into High Charity by Flood forms.


 * UNSC Gettysberg


 * UNSC Commonwealth


 * UNSC Arabia (Destroyed at Harvest)


 * UNSC Vostok (Destroyed at Harvest)
 * UNSC Gorgon


 * UNSC Meriwether Lewis


 * UNSC Midsummer Night


 * UNSC Alliance


 * UNSC Euphrates (Assumed destroyed at Reach)


 * UNSC Allegiance


 * UNSC Fair Weather (Destroyed at Sigma Octanus IV)

ONI Prowlers

 * Circumference (Destroyed by Spartan-117)


 * Athens


 * Applebee (Assumed destroyed at Reach)


 * Lark (Assumed destroyed at Reach)

Other Ships

 * Hermes II


 * Han - Diplomatic Shuttle


 * Apocalypso - Spy Ship


 * ''Laden - Cargo Ship


 * Odyssey - Colony Ship


 * Argo - Scout Ship


 * Coda - Shuttle pod

MAC Gun Orbitals

 * Cairo Station


 * Athens Station (Destroyed by boarders)


 * Malta Station (Destroyed by boarders)


 * Nassau Station (Fell through temporal anomaly, orbitting Earth in 2004)

Mobile Stations

 * Cradle - Refit station

Remote Scanning Outposts

 * Fermion


 * Archimedes

Medical Stations

 * Research Station Hopeful


 * ONI Medical Facility


 * M25L Recovery Station

UNSC Military Units

 * 3rd Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Division
 * 105th Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Division
 * 105th Drop Jet Platoon
 * 23rd Naval Air Squadron
 * 405th Marine Infantry Division
 * Charlie Company
 * Tango Company

Major UNSC Events

 * Interplanetary War - 2160
 * Operation: TREBUCHET - 2513
 * The Battle of Harvest - 2525
 * The Battle of Sigma Octanus IV - 2552
 * Operation: HYPODERMIC - 2552
 * The Battle of Reach - 2552
 * Operation: FIRST STRIKE - 2552
 * The First Battle of Earth - 2552
 * The Second Battle of Earth - 2552

UNSC Laws

 * See: UNSC Laws