United Nations Space Command

The United Nations Space Command (UNSC) is the scientific, exploratory and military arm of the Unified Earth Government and the Colonial Administration Authority that controls and administers that authority. The UNSC's military arm is called the United Nations Space Command Defense Force, used to protect human colony worlds and engage threats to the UNSC. By the time of the war the UNSC is in the tier 3 of the Forerrunner technological achievement.

During the First and Second Battle of Earth, the UNSC fought the Covenant on Earth to keep Humanity from extinction.

Background
The UNSC was formed by the United Nations during the Interplanetary Wars. After the eventual UNSC victory, overpopulation on Earth, started becoming a major issue in the early 22nd century. This issue was solved and disaster averted by colonizing other planets in the Orion Arm of the galaxy, the Inner Colonies and later the Outer Colonies.

The UNSCDF is run by the UNSC Security Committee and is Earth's main military force, most recently fighting the Covenant. The Navy houses the divisions of Marines (including the 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 its colonies to keep privateers and pirates from raiding them.

As of at least 2552, the UNSC has apparently assumed the governing duties of the Unified Earth Government as an emergency military government, in the face of overwhelming Covenant incursions. UEG still exists, and it acts as a completely democratic world government where all the participant countries share the same legal system. It should be noted now that the UEG's specific functions, legal makeup and legal boundaries as they relate to the CAA and UNSC are not yet known in detail.

The UNSC Flag is described as "...a blue field with stars and Earth in the corner." .



Interplanetary War
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 prominently 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." More specifically, the Frieden movement was a fascist organization based on the Jovian Moons, though they received backing from some corporations operating in the United German Republic on Earth, while their ideological opponents, the Koslovics, formed a Marxist-Leninist group centered around the leadership of Vladimir Koslov.

The war began with an attack on UN Military Advisers on the moon of Io, but would spread to Mars and parts of South America in the Rain Forest Wars. These events culminated in a large UN buildup in the 2160s, which would result in the second of the great reforms, the first being from the league of nations into the UN. The second reformed the UN from a largely diplomatic organization to a permanent United Earth Government with unlimited power to lead the human race by 2170.

Colonization
The four-year long war put the spotlight on problems facing the overpopulated planet, and the Rain Forest Wars also exacerbated the problems related to food distribution. The ensuing famine and societal problems related to the post-war population boom provided the impetus to change the political nature of governance on Earth and elsewhere, leading to the political system seen in the period of the Halo games.

These pressures also helped make space colonization more attractive in later centuries, as the government would sign off on a colony ship program that was revealed in 2310 to ease the burden on the ailing homeworld. This would not have been possible without the invention of the Slipspace drive in the late 2200's.

It took 52 years before the first colony ship, the Odyssey, was launched, and what became the so-called Inner Colonies were not fully colonized until the end of the 24th century. The apex of UNSC colonization would come in 2492, when over 800 worlds were under human control and were at various stages of development. By this time, a ring of Outer Colonies was providing the UEG with the raw materials that made the macro-economy work; the political power, however, remained with the a forementioned Inner Colonies. The massive difference in wealth distribution and political power, which became a hallmark of the humans' civilization by this period, led to new threats of secession from the outer ring. Fearing the consequences of the breakup of the interstellar empire and seeing the benefits of avoiding all-out war to defend their hold on the colonies, the UNSC would embark on the predecessors to the SPARTAN-II program in 2491, beginning with the ORION Project.

The Human-Covenant War
2525 marked a pivotal turning point in human history. it would mark the beginning of great technological advancement, and the unification of a divided and fractured human race, and the first contact of humanity and an extraterrestrial intelligence, the Covenant. It would also see a lot of the UNSC's 800 colony worlds destroyed, and billions of colonists slaughtered by orbital plasma bombardment and planetary invasion. Thus began the Human-Covenant War.

Stemming from the chance encounter of humanity and Covenant forces at Harvest, first contact was less than peaceful. A less aggressive meeting between representatives of the two factions met on the fields of Harvest, but peaceful meeting soon turned into a blood bath, with the Covenant claiming the planet for the numerous "Forerunner relics" present, slaughtering much of the colony's population.

On October 7, a scout ship, Argo, was sent to investigate the cessation of communications between Harvest and the rest of the UNSC. The scout ship was also lost. It discovered that everything on the planet had been completely incinerated, and the surface had been melted down to glass. In orbit around the remains of the colony world was a single alien ship which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying all the ships except one. Intercepted communications identify the enemy as The Covenant, a caste-driven, theological organization made up of several alien species. The message "Your destruction is the will of the gods... and we are their instrument" was broadcast in perfect English.

Since the later Battle of Harvest in 2531 where a huge human fleet led by Admiral Cole barely won against a smaller covenant fleet in a symbolic "victory" for humanity, the humans' grip on their territories declined significantly in the course of their struggle. Of the more than 800 colony worlds, the Covenant has managed to capture and glass nearly every, if not all Outer Colonies and a significant number of the Inner Colonies. The UNSC Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Militias, outnumbered and outgunned, have managed to slow down the Covenants inexorably progress through former human space, but the situation is drastic. In desperation, HIGHCOM orders a high-risk Op, sending the Spartan-II super soldiers, the best soldiers ever fielded by humanity, to insert into Covenant space, capture a high-ranking Prophet, and return to UNSC space in an attempt to ransom for a truce. Before the operation begins, the Covenant find and destroy the planet that would have served as its launching pad, Reach, killing most of the Spartans and a large portion of the UNSCDF.

By October of 2552, the Covenant have haphazardly discovered the position of the human homeworld, Earth, and send a preliminary task force there, believing it to be the location of the Ark, an ancient Forerunner relic. They encountered staunch resistance, and are initially fended off. Further complications arise from the political and religious crisis that emerges in the wake of a UNSC operation to assassinate a Prophet, and the secession of the Elites from the hegemony, leading to the Covenant Civil War, further throwing the Covenant into chaos. nevertheless, by November what is left of the Covenant Loyalists have subjugated large parts of Earth, devastating much of the planet. Only its retreat through a Forerunner portal in Africa, and the arrival of the Elites' Fleet, stop the utter destruction of the UNSC and Earth itself.

The UNSC and Elite forces launch a joint operation to destroy the Covenant Loyalists once and for all at the Ark, stopping the installation from firing The Halo Array, killing the Covenants last remaining leader figure, the Prophet of Truth, and destroying the bulk of the Loyalists remaining forces. On March 3, 2553, the Human-Covenant War officially ends in a victory for the UNSC and the Covenant Seperatists, but at a high price: most Outer Colonies and a chunk of the Inner Colonies were glassed. It is presumed that untold billions of humans have been killed from 2525-2553.

Organization

 * Unified Earth Government or United Nations
 * Colonial Administration Authority
 * Central Command (CENTCOM)
 * High Command (HIGHCOM)
 * UNSC Security Committee
 * UNSC Security Council
 * Administrative
 * Personnel Command (PERSCOM)
 * Navigation Command (NAVCOM)
 * UNSC Astrophysics
 * UNSC Medical Corps (MEDCORPS)
 * UNSC Engineering Corps (ENGCORP)
 * UNSC Logistical Corps
 * UNSC Test and Evaluation *Corps
 * UNSC Ordinance Committee
 * UNSC Navy
 * Fleet Command (FLEETCOM)
 * Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)
 * Office of Investigations (OI)
 * '''Prowler Corps
 * Naval Special Warfare (NAVSPECWAR)
 * Project SPARTAN-II
 * Beta-5 Division
 * Project SPARTAN-III
 * Signal Corps
 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * UNSC Marine Infantry
 * UNSC Marine Aviation
 * UNSC Marine Logistics
 * UNSC Marine Military Police
 * UNSC Marine Special Operations
 * Orbital Drop Shock Troopers
 * UNSC Army
 * UNSC Army Infantry
 * UNSC Colonial Militia
 * Other
 * UNSC Symphony Orchestra
 * Commerce
 * Department of Commercial Shipping

UNSC Personnel

 * See Characters for a list of UNSC personnel.
 * ''see Bases for a list of UNSC Military Bases.

UNSC Navy

 * See UNSC Navy

UNSC Marine Corps

 * ''See UNSC Marine Corps

UNSC Army

 * ''See UNSC Army

Colony Systems, Worlds, and Cities
see: Category:UNSC Colonies.

Sol System
 * Earth - Homeworld to Humanity,
 * Micronesia
 * Asia
 * China
 * Japan
 * Mongolia
 * Pakistan
 * Africa
 * Cairo
 * East African Protectorate
 * Republic of Kenya
 * Mombasa
 * New Mombasa
 * Old Mombasa
 * Voi
 * United Republic of Tanzania
 * Zanzibar Island
 * Korea
 * Kyonggi Province
 * Songnam
 * Special Warfare Center
 * Commonwealth of Australia
 * Sydney, Australia
 * HighCom Facility Bravo-6
 * Sydney Synthetic Intellect Institute
 * Diego Garcia
 * Republic of Cuba
 * Havana
 * Centennial Orbital Elevator
 * Republic of Chile
 * United Republic of North America
 * Mexico
 * Mexico City
 * Base Segundo Terra
 * Canada
 * United States of America
 * New York
 * New York City
 * New Jersey
 * Unit 216
 * Newark
 * Cleveland, Ohio
 * Old Cleveland
 * Oregon
 * Salem
 * Illinois
 * Chicago
 * Industrial Zone 08
 * Gut Check
 * Rebound
 * Severe Tire Damage
 * The Seropian
 * Halsted Street
 * Indiana
 * Boston, Massachusetts
 * Chawla Base
 * Commonwealth of Kentucky
 * Great Lakes
 * Lake Michigan
 * Great Lakes Spaceport
 * Cottage Grove Terminal
 * Minnesota
 * Wisconsin
 * Switzerland
 * United Kingdom
 * Great Britain
 * London
 * Islington
 * Birmingham
 * Bristol
 * Cheshire
 * Leeds
 * Plymouth
 * Portsmouth
 * Reading
 * Romford
 * Scotland
 * Edinburgh
 * Federal Republic of Germany
 * Essen
 * Beweglichrüstungsysteme research facility
 * UNSC Symphony Hall
 * Luna
 * Luna OCS Academy


 * Mars
 * Chiron
 * Argyre Planitia
 * Reyes-McLees Shipyards
 * Katagalgun
 * New Legaspi
 * New Manila
 * Mare Erythraeum


 * Jupiter
 * Jovian Moons
 * Ganymede
 * Aigburth
 * Lister
 * Io
 * Io Station
 * Europa

Epsilon Eridani System


 * Reach - Primary military installation. 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
 * Ehilend - natural orbiting satellite


 * Beta Gabriel


 * Tantalus- Unknown

Sigma Octanus System


 * Sigma Octanus IV - Still held by the UNSC even though it was attacked in 2552 by the Covenant
 * Côte d'Azur

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

Lambda Serpentis System


 * Jericho VII - Glassed in 2535

Zeta Doradus System


 * Onyx - obliterated

Epsilon Indi System


 * Harvest - Glassed by Covenant in 2525
 * Utgard
 * Utgard Highway
 * Gladsheim
 * Gladsheim Highway

Chi Ceti System


 * Chi Ceti IV -Unknown
 * Damascus Testing Facility

Hellespont System


 * Troy - Glassed in 2537
 * Harmony - Glassed in 2537
 * New Harmony - Unknown

111 Tauri System


 * Victoria - Unknown

Epsilon Eridanus System


 * Tribute
 * Casbah

Other Colonies


 * Biko - Glassed in 2525
 * Durban
 * Emerald Cove - Glassed in 2542
 * Draco III - Glassed
 * Paris IV - Glassed
 * Charybdis IX - Unknown
 * Minister- still held by UNSC
 * Hydra System - Unknown
 * Gilgamesh- Unknown
 * Coral - Attacked by Covenant in 2552, unknown/glassed
 * New Constantinople - Glassed
 * Mamore - still held by UNSC
 * Crystal - still held by UNSC
 * Groombridge 34 System - Unknown
 * Atlas Moons - still held by UNSC
 * Far Isle - Unknown
 * Miridem - Unknown
 * Mariposa - Unknown
 * Ballast - Unknown
 * Arcadia - Unknown

UNSC bases


 * Fort York
 * Roosevelt Military Base
 * Crow's Nest

Nations
The majority of information contained by weekly Bungie updates and several comic books indicate that at least some nations on Earth still exist and probably maintained their independence despite the global unification that was performed by the UN, UNSC and Unified Earth Government in the 22nd century during the Interplanetary War.

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

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

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

Handheld Weapons
 * Combat Knife
 * MA2B Assault Rifle
 * MA5K Assault Rifle
 * MA3 Assault Rifle
 * HMG-38 Rifle
 * M99 Special Application Sniper Rifle
 * M19-B SAM Missile Launcher
 * Electric Baton
 * Confetti Maker

Missiles
 * Archer Missiles
 * ASGM-10 Missiles
 * ''ANVIL-II ASM
 * Argent V Missiles
 * Scorpion Missiles

Mines
 * Lotus Anti Tank-Mine
 * Antlion Anti-Personnel Mines
 * Moray Space Mines
 * Type 14 Magnetic/Anti-Tank Mine
 * Asteroidea Anti-personnel Mine

Grenades
 * Smoke Grenade
 * Flash-Bang Grenade
 * Concussion Grenade
 * Napalm Grenade
 * Sonic Grenade

Machine Guns
 * MLA Autocannon
 * M202 XP Machine Gun

Nuclear Weapons
 * Fury Tactical Nuclear Warhead
 * Shiva Nuclear-tipped missile
 * FENRIS Nuclear Warhead
 * Nova
 * HORNET Mines
 * HAVOK nuclear mine

Other
 * VX 7 Nerve Gas
 * Magnetic Accelerator Cannon
 * 102mm SC-HE Rocket Turret
 * Fougass
 * Satchel Charge
 * C-7 Foaming Explosive
 * C-12 Shaped-charges
 * Narcozine Gas
 * Thermite-Carbon Cord

Land

 * Scorpion Tank - M808B Main Battle Tank
 * Warthog - M12 LRV with mounted chain gun, rocket launcher or gauss cannon
 * Mongoose - All-Terrain Vehicle
 * Cougar - Infantry Fighting Vehicle
 * Elephant - Siege Vehicle and Infantry Carrier
 * Rhino  - Heavy Tank/Self Propelled Artillery Vehicle

Air

 * Pelican - D77-TC Drop ship
 * Albatross - Larger Drop ship
 * Bumblebee - Escape pod
 * Longsword - C709 Space fighter
 * SkyHawk - Sub-orbital jet
 * Shortsword - Short-range atmospheric fighter-bomber
 * Sparrowhawk - VTOL Close Air Support Guns hip
 * Hornet - VTOL Gun ship/Utility Drop ship

UNSC Technologies

 * See Technology

UNSC Vessels and Stations

 * See UNSC Navy

UNSC Currency
The UNSC uses the United Nations Credit monetary unit to organize its economical stability by selling or buying military equipment, supplies, costs for shipping etc. The UN Credit was implemented by the United Nations, probably some time before its dissolution and replacement with the United Earth Government in 2164.

Known UNSC Military Units

 * UNSC Army
 * UNSC Navy
 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * UNSC Marine Orbital Shock Trooper Corps
 * Office of Naval Intelligence
 * Colonial Militia

Major UNSC Events

 * Interplanetary War - 2160-2200
 * Jovian Moons Campaign
 * Rain Forest Wars
 * Martian Campaign
 * Inner Colony Wars - Unknown, probably 25th century
 * Human-Covenant War - 2525-2553
 * Battle of Harvest
 * Battle of Sigma Octanus IV
 * Battle of Reach
 * Battle of Installation 04
 * Operation: FIRST STRIKE
 * First Battle of Earth
 * Battle of Installation 05
 * Second Battle of Earth
 * Battle of Voi
 * Second Battle of Mombasa
 * Battle of Onyx
 * Battle of Installation 00

UNSC Laws

 * See UNSC Laws

Trivia

 * The UNSC is the navigation and military arm of the Unified Earth Government and the Colonial Administration Authority, thus it does not administrate the colonies without the consensus of the CAA or the UEG.
 * The UNSC was incorrectly refered to as the "USNC" in the novel "Halo: Ghosts of Onyx".