UNSC Covert Force Unit

"We are the Steeljumpers.." -Anonymous Covert Force Unit Trooper

The UNSC Covert Force Unit is a division of UNSC Special Operations. They are a branch of the UNSC Navy, under the control of ONI. Their role is similar: to lead invasions from orbit. They are bitter rivals with the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper unit, partly due to the CFU's saying - "The true Helljumpers."

History
The roots of the Covert Force program can be traced to when a squad of ODST's had their armor modified, making it slightly more versatile in 2545. ONI recorded their performance over the next few battles, and noticed that they performed above average. ONI then began a program codenamed WATER MOCASSIN, and engineers were hired to develop a new armor variant for the WATER MOCASSIN program. They used an already created armor style, the Recon armor, which was already designed to be compatible with SPARTAN-II's. In 2549, the Covert Force Unit was put into action, with 100 ODST volunteers, even though the armor was not yet fabricated. They underwent 30 days of additional training, and were deployed to the frontlines equipped with standard ODST armor. Result showed the unit did slightly better than normal, but would require advanced body armor to fully utilize their training. Later in 2549, the prototype, codenamed TUXEDO. Three TUXEDO combat suits were made for testing. In the tests, the TUXEDO performed higher in almost all fields, and, with a few more tweaks, the final product was created, and was deemed the M1099 Recon Combat Suit. The suit was put to use on the 115 active CFUT's in March 2550, officializing the Covert Force Unit.

After being outfitted, the CFUT's were assigned to two ships in the 5th Fleet. They went through a short tour of duty, suffering 42 casualties over 18 months, 25 of which were HEV-related deaths. The ships they were on were then called to Reach for defense, and remained their until the Battle of Reach, where they suffered an additional 37 casualties. The survivors were then sent to Earth, specifically near Hamburg, Germany. When Covenant forces began their assault on Mombasa, the group was airlifted to Kenya. However, only hours after they arrived, the CFUT's were presumed KIA when the Prophet of Regret's ship made a slipspace jump just over Mombasa. The wormhole created sucked in a massive amount of debris, along with it the remaining CFUT's.

After the Human-Covenant War, another class of CFUT's were recruited, and the 135th Covert Force Regiment was created, with 3,200 graduates of CFU training as of 2556.