D102 Owl

An Owl is a stealth insertion craft in service with the UNSC Navy following the Human-Covenant War.

Design details
Capable of carrying many troops and supplies, Owls are considered to be stealth-capable. The craft is covered in a nanoblack biopolymer coating for this purpose, and features a cockpit made of aluminium oxynitride - a transparent aluminium ceramic that does not bend easily. The craft uses a double-cockpit design, with the co-pilot sat above and behind the pilot, with a bubble canopy covering each crewmember. The cockpits do not have any connection into the rear cargo bay. While transparent like glass, transparent aluminum is designed to withstand impacts from Covenant plasma cannons. One such canopy was strong enough to resist the efforts of a Spartan-II wearing MJOLNIR armor, though buckled and gave way under the combined efforts of two.

The crafts resemble a slightly smaller, lightly armored Pelican dropship, with the most notable difference being the Owl's cloud-gray finish and downward-curved wings. The Owl uses pivoting thrust nacelles to allow the craft to hover, and has a boarding ramp near its tail. The Owl's passenger cabin is cramped, with seats for a total of ten passengers. Automatic crash harnesses ensure that passengers are safely secured within the Owl's seats. Aside from the ten inward-facing seats, the cabin contains a weapons locker at the forward bulkhead and enough space between the seats for some single-occupant vehicles. Owls have no artificial gravity The Owl has no interior lighting during daytime operations.

Armament
Although intended for stealth, the Owl is equipped with a few weapons for defensive purposes. They include six internally-stocked Argent V missiles and a single retractable M370 autocannon mounted in under the craft's chin.

Operational history
Owls were used during the conflict on the human Outer Colony of Gao. Admiral Tuwa's battle group attempted to reinforce the 717th Xeno-Materials Exploitation Battalion on the planet with Owls and Pelicans, but the crafts were attacked and either driven off or destroyed by the Gao Space Navy's fleet of patrol corvettes. An Owl, the, was later used to extract Blue Team, Veta Lopis, and a Forerunner ancilla on the planet just before a HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon destroyed a local Forerunner installation.

Another Owl, the was used by Blue Team during Operation: WOLFE.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Last Light
 * Halo: Retribution
 * Halo: Shadows of Reach
 * Halo: Divine Wind