Assault harness

Elite Assault Armor is a rare type of battle armor, worn only by Elites. Comparable in defensive capabilities to Elite Combat Armor and Human MJOLNIR Armor, it is nonetheless optimized for assaults, possibly intending to provide more protection from ballistics. However, in-game, there is no practical difference between it and Combat Armor.

Features
Assault Armor provides an energy shield to offer medium protection from plasma, ballistic and kinetic impacts. This shield, however, has roughly the same resilience as that of Combat Armor.

Elite Assault Armor seems to be vacuum sealed, although this has yet to be confirmed.

Ranks
Unlike the standard-issue Combat Armor, Assault Armor has almost never been seen in the field. Despite this, some instances of Assault Armor have recently been noted.

Ranger: There are distinct similarities between Assault Armor and the Thrusterpack/Vacuum Armor worn by Ranger Elites. It is possible that Ranger Armor is simply a modified version of Assault Armor that has been optimized for vacuum combat.

Security Elite: The Elites who protect high-ranking fleet officers seem to wear a very dark purple version of Assault Armor. While it has yet to be confirmed that these warriors are in fact Security Elites, it seems likely, given the usefulness of vacuum-sealed armor to a naval officer.

Background

 * Assault Armor will be one of the multiplayer Armor Permutations in Halo 3.