Halo Theories 9-18-15: UNSC Technology Part 1

p1ay4OURFUN · September 19, 2015, 1:14am

Hello Halo canonites! After being away from Halo Weekly Theories for awhile, I have decided to come back with an improved series, simply called Halo theories. Same idea though, just a longer wait in between issues. As always, to distinguish what is canon and what is theoretical, all canon attributes will be in bold and incorporate links while all theoretical attributes will be italicized. If there is both a bold word and italicized word, then that means that the bold word is canon, but it is being used within the theoretical context. The article this week is similar to the previous issue released awhile ago, and talks about the ammunition used by the UNSC, but has so much more information, along with a new section, directed energy weaponry. I wish it were shorter, but please take the time to read it as I am sure many of you may find it interesting. And due to character limitations, this post will be split into two parts. Anyways, enjoy!

Sincerely,
p1ay4OURFUN

Weaponry:
The UNSC uses kinetic technology for the majority of their weaponry, while the use of directed energy weaponry is rare and only used for certain tactical situations. While most of this technology originated as a complex and modern concept in the 21st Century, it does not mean that the technology Humanity uses in its military in the 26th Century is comparable to the technology used in the 21st century. The UNSC has acquired many resources over the centuries,and with help from Artificial Intelligence, Human Engineers within the UNSC, Colonial Military Administration (CMA), and the Office of Naval Intelligence Section 3 division, Humanity has improved technology within the battlefield in accordance to policies held by the Unified Earth Government (UEG) through subtle and drastic means.Everything, even down to the engineering of the bullet has been reinvented to fit the advancements Humanity has had to offer throughout history. This is a series of documents on how Human military technology has evolved since the 21st century and where it stands now in the 26th century.

Standard Ammunition: The UNSC uses Armor Piercing Rounds as standard issue ammunition. However, they utilize other ammunition configurations as well, such as Incendiary rounds, Shredder Rounds, Explosive Rounds, and Case-less Rounds. These configurations have been used as early as the mid-21st century (though at that time many of these were still prototypes), but they have gone through several technological advancements since then. In the past, militaries within the United Nations have been known to use Directed Energy weapons during the late 21st Century to the Interplanetary Wars of the 2160’s, but after the Unified Earth Government was reformed into a ruling form of government for Earth and all the colonies, the UNSC released an act labeling directed energy weaponry as “inhumane” and “damaging to the atmosphere,” therefore rendering directed energy weapons obsolete within the UNSC and civilian market temporarily until the Insurrection of the late 25th Century._Along with this, the cost of production for these weapons over time became very expensive, and the crumbling economies after the major wars of the late 21st century and mid-22nd century could not support the mass production of such weapons._As such, manufacturing of better and deadlier ammunition became a priority within the scientific departments of the UNSC. It wasn’t until the Insurrection in the late 2400’s that directed energy weapons were utilized on the battlefield once again as heavy anti-vehicular and anti-air weaponry (though such technology was very scarce and very expensive), which then continued to be utilized onward to modern day.

In the early 21st century self-guided ammunition existed as prototypes, but were not utilized in war until the First Colonial War and The Second Colonial War during the 2080’s and 2090’s. These “smart” bullets did not become standard issue until the Rain Forest Wars in 2162 and went through several technological advancements until they were perfected during the Insurrection and used during the following Human-Covenant War and the present Post War Conflicts. “Smart” bullets are utilized in all of the unique types of bullet configurations shown above, including shotgun slugs and ammunition used by vehicles and starships; however, the ammunition’s tracking ability in starships is rendered useless within space due to the fact that the ammunition is exposed to a vacuum, but within atmosphere, they are able to effectively track their designated targets if need be. The bullets only track targets over long distances however, and even then, a confirmation of the target from the aiming systems or HUD’s reticle must be present or else the bullet will not track the intended target.
The materials used to make bullets have changed over the course of human history. In the 21st Century, Armor Piercing rounds were mostly copper or copper-nickel jacketed rounds surrounding a hardened steel core. Since steel is a dense metal, it gave the bullet a higher mass and therefore a greater velocity and impact force. Also, steel is a very hard and durable metal, making it a great armor piecing agent. However, the UNSC has made the bullet deadlier by using better piercing materials due to an abundance of resources. They needed to make this change due to advancements in the armor attributes in the BDU’s utilized by Military Personnel, and later the foreign armor and shielding technology used by the Covenant. A copper plated, steel core AP round would shatter instantly against shields and wouldn’t offer the required velocity to deliver enough force to bring down shields, let alone efficiently pierce Covenant and 24th-26th century Human armor. To compensate for advancements in defensive components within Infantry, Vehicles, Infrastructure, and Starships, the UNSC uses Tungsten and Tungsten Carbide as a base material for all infantry ammunition and as a secondary complimentary ammunition for vehicular and starship weaponry when Depleted Uranium is not available (meaning that Depleted Uranium is the standard material all vehicle and starship mounted weaponry utilize for ammunition).
In the 21st Century, tungsten based ammunition existed, but was very scarce due to resource limitations on Earth. In the 22nd Century, after the Two Colonial Wars and during the Interplanetary Wars of the 2160’s, the UNSC’s standard ammunition was a Hardened Steel plated round with a Tungsten core. However, after the Office of Naval Intelligence was established in 2178, technological advancement programs were managed by Section 3 of ONI. In collaboration with the Unified Earth Government and UNSC, ONI labeled celestial objects such as but not limited to planets, moons, asteroids, and comets under three categories: Colonization Class, Research Class, and Resource Class. Resource Class celestial objects discovered in the Colonization Era provided by the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine in the 23rd Century were heavily mined and drained of their resources for production purposes. With an abundance of rare Earth metals and other materials, production of deadlier and more effective ammunition skyrocketed due to the decreased price and cost of production of these materials.(continued in next post…)

p1ay4OURFUN · September 19, 2015, 1:15am

Therefore, the UNSC began to utilize Tungsten plated rounds with a Tungsten Carbide core in the 25th Century and established these bullets as standard issue during the Inner Colony Wars, as they proved to be very effective against the heavy Titanium-A/Tungsten mixed armor utilized on Vehicles and the dense Impact Force Resistant BDU’s the Military utilized. This type of ammunition continues to be standard issue today in the 26th century, and while this ammunition is effective in any weapon, the S2 AM Sniper Rifle series makes full use of this round through its large deadly caliber. However, Armor Piercing rounds are not the only ammunition that uses Tungsten as a base material. Incendiary rounds, Shredder rounds, Case less rounds, and Explosive Rounds use Tungsten as their main structural component as well. Due to these Tungsten rounds, the UNSC has been able to effectively fight the Insurrection and Covenant, disable shields, and pierce through thick Titanium-A armor, the Covenant’s Nanolaminate Plating, and the Hard light armor plating used by Forerunner constructs.
As discussed above, directed energy weaponry has existed at certain points in human history. However, due to politics, economic conditions, and information restrictions, directed energy weaponry has had a hard time to remain standard within the UNSC. The first use of directed energy weaponry was in the early 21st century as anti-aircraft and anti-armor laser point turrets on United States Naval vessels. These “laser turrets” used powerful lasers on a turnaround platform that could easily shoot down aircraft and small attack boats. Later, throughout the 21st Century, the Navies of the United Nations adopted these turrets. While expensive to produce, their ammunition and cost per shot was extensively cheap. They later began to be integrated into the Armies of the United Nations as heavy laser turret defense networks that were used as anti-aircraft and anti-missile assets. Though used in a less extensive manner, they could also vaporize any organic matter within seconds, therefore making them an excellent anti-infantry weapon if scenarios required it to be used in such manner. However, political organizations were strongly against it and prohibited such use unless in dire need. Later throughout the mid-21st century, when the first true Artificial Intelligence was created, these weapons were improved and modified to be mass produced to protect major cities and military strongholds around the world against aerial attacks, rendering airstrikes useless and bringing the art of war mainly back down to the ground and sea.
However, these weapons still were not manufactured for personnel use, and were only for heavy target confrontation. It was not until the Second Colonial War in the 2090’s that Directed energy weaponry were given to military personnel as standard issue heavy weaponry, as artificial intelligence had improved on the battlefield and the use of robotic infantry was becoming standard within Earth’s militaries and the Colonies’ militias. However, bullets were still the primary form of ammunition for most weaponry. During the 1st Reconstruction Era of the 22nd Century(circa. 2104-2123), the Eurasian Association of Colonial Defense(a sub faction of the UN founded in 2111) began manufacturing prototypes of an atmospheric defense grid comprised of directed energy weaponry similar to the existing Orbital Defense Network(ODN) created by the United States Navy in 2036. The ODN used orbiting satellites that were able to fire 6 meter long tungsten rods at approximately Mach 12, giving the impact force the same amount of energy to that of a small nuclear strike. However, these orbital stations required expensive ammunition, constant maintenance, and immediate energy supply. With the new Directed Energy Orbital Defense Network (DEODN) however, the cost of the ammunition was not as expensive, and instead of operating under human hands, the network was maintained and directed by an Artificial Intelligence. And lastly, the most technological breakthrough the DEODN brought was its ability to utilize wireless electromagnetic energy on a large scale. Instead of relying on fuel, a battery, or solar power directly to operate, the DEODN was the first network and device to receive energy from the surface of a celestial object through the use of Orbital Defense Generators, devices still in use today to power the more destructive Orbital Defense Platforms, which in turn are an evolution of the older ODN. The irony of these devices however, is that even though they did not use directed plasma as ammunition, they were the closest thing Humanity has ever manufactured to the Covenant’s energy projectors.
The DEODN project replaced all previous ODN satellites, providing nations with extensive air coverage and dominance within the atmosphere due to its far superior numbers. However, the Interplanetary Wars of the 2160s were the first and last conflicts these devices were ever utilized in combat. Many Artificial Intelligences running DEODN systems sided with or were taken control over by the Koslovics and the Frieden movement during the Rain Forest Wars, and continued to serve both until 2170 when the Callisto Treaty was signed and ended the Interplanetary War. However, Koslovic and Frieden forces did not utilize as many DEODN systems as the UN and later in 2163 the UNSC did, and throughout the conflicts, they continued to lose systems either because the UNSC regained a taken Artificial Intelligence, or the systems were terminated. In the end however, these systems and all other directed energy weaponry were decommissioned by the UNSC in 2171 under the restrictions of UNSC Regulation 7B-343, which considered directed energy weapons as “[inhumane], and damaging to the [atmosphere more so than nuclear weapons].” Orbital Defense Networks were once again issued to orbit celestial bodies, as their technology and economic value had been improved due to the DEODN’s disappearance and an influx in resources. Directed Energy Weaponry of any kind would not be used again until the Insurrection in the late 25th Century, and later the Human-Covenant War and Post-War Conflicts, in which they proved both useful and crucial to the war effort.

Arc_Trooper_48 · February 16, 2016, 12:58pm

Great job with both articles. How long did this take?

p1ay4OURFUN · February 17, 2016, 4:52am

> 2535455681930574;3:
> Great job with both articles. How long did this take?

Thank you! Both articles each took about a week or so to write. Research first, then putting everything together and editing to make sure they make sense, have the appropriate links, and fit perfectly in the established canon. However, my third article has been put on hold for quite awhile due to college.