Project NAEGLING

Under Doctor Catherine Halsey, the MJOLNIR Mark IV Programme saw spectacular successes, both in their deployment with the SPARTAN-II Programme operators they were designed for and in the development of powered armour technologies. At the same time, however, it eclipsed other projects begun by Naval Special Warfare, and other military research and development teams, to create their own powered armour projects. The chief drawback of the MJOLNIR Programme was that it was extremely specialised - they could only be worn by SPARTAN-II or III personnel, for example, and neither the Army or Marine Corps did not wish to create Spartan-grade special warfare operators. Nor could they afford it - construction costs alone for a mere forty suits of MJOLNIR Mark IV was roughly equaivalent to a small UNSC Navy Battlegroup, and maintenance costs were a constant source of harrassment for the projects ONI backers. The MJOLNIR Project practically bankrupted ONI until the results of its investment began to pay off. The outstanding performance of the MJOLNIR-equipped SPARTAN-II's would see FLEETCOM dramatically increase the research and development budget.

This benefitted other projects as well. Although funded by ONI Section III, Naval Special Weapons Development, Project NAEGLING was started in 2535intended to provide the UNSC Army with a powered exoskeleton to rival, if not the MJOLNIR Project, then the cheaper but overlooked VAJRA-I Project. Many of its personnel had been reassigned, more than half to the MJOLNIR Project where they would develop upgrades and improvements to the Mark IV and eventually the Mark V, but NAEGLING managed to gather remaining ex-VAJRA personnel, including project leader Arthur Falkner and metamaterial experts Moriko Yoko and Alyosha Timofey. Initially, the project was run concurrently with the HRUNTING and YGGDRASIL projects, which produced an extremely effective prototype in 2542, but the destruction of both projects and the prototype itself when the colony fell saw NAEGLING become the Army's sole hope of developing powered assault exoskeletons. Eventually, seeing little in the way of tenable results, NavSpecWep agreed to transfer oversight to the UNSC Army Corps of Engineers in 2545. Now separate from Naval oversight and resources, NAEGLING would make surprisingly rapid progress, producing a number of demonstration models for Army observers. By 2551, seven prototypes were developed of a final model, the Naegling-XIII, a powered assault armour system designed for providing ground forces with highly mobile heavy firepower, specialising in anti-infantry and anti-armour operations but with anti-air capability. Field testing was conducted on Reach in July, 2552, and the prototypes were shipped to Earth for additional development before scheduled for deployment.

The Fall of Reach, and the subsequent devastation of Earth and other UNSC strongholds in the Solar System, would delay the introduction of the NAEGLING into service, and only after the conclusion of the war did the UNSC Army adopt them for select special warfare teams. In the post-war reconstruction period, NAEGLING suits would assist in the consolidation of remaining UNSC territory, providing heavy firepower to Army and Marine warfighters on Europa and Titan against Insurrectionist uprisings. Other operations were classified, though it is suspected that they were deployed in a number of small scale engagements against Kig-Yar pirate bases and the fledgling Blood Covenant. During the War of Vengeance, the NAEGLING would be refined further, incorporating advanced made in the fields of directed energy weaponry and energy shielding, including a rudimentary solid light barrier mounted to the left arm. By the war's end, the NAEGLING had gained a fearsome reputation among the Jiralhanae for its destructiveness, nicknamed "Vrathek's Hammers" - named after a Jiralhanae demon spirit.

Personnel

 * Arthur Falkner - project leader. Born in New Zealand in 2511, Falkner studied at Otag University and recieved a Bachelor of Science, specialising in mathematics and computer programming. Initially interested in AI development in Sydney, he was contracted by the Navy as project leader for Project VAJRA. After the collapse of VAJRA, Falkner accepted a lecturing post at Victoria University before quitting to take part in Project NAEGLING under the Navy again, and then under the Army.
 * Moriko Yoko
 * Alyosha Timofey
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Developments

 * Mark I - the initial demonstration model, the Mark I was intended to show the basic internal layout and method of locomotion, using reaction-enhancing liquid crystals in tandem with mechanised pistons to move the limbs of the suit. Problems with suit/operator synchronisation hindered development, but were eventually smoothed out by 2536.
 * Mark II-VI - Though it retained the same basic outline and frame, versions two through to six saw some radical redesigns, such as the amount of liquid crystal, alteration to the design philosophy itself, and the incorporation of Project EXCALIBUR-derived improvements.
 * Mark VII -
 * Mark VIII -
 * Mark IX-XI -
 * Mark XII -
 * Mark XIII - 2545
 * Mark XIX - 2553
 * Mark XX - 2560

Collaborations

 * Project EXCALIBUR - initially under the oversight umbrella of NavSpecWep's Project EXCALIBUR, a long-term modernisation project, the NAEGLING Project was eventually reassigned to the UNSC Army Corps of Engineers.
 * Project: VAJRA-II - although the MJOLNIR Program as a whole fell under the purview of Doctor Halsey, VAJRA-II was a small subsection tasked by ONI on parallel developments of experimental or prototypical material and equipment for the armour systems worn by Indigo Team and other secret Spartan-II and III operators. Cooperation resulted in the incorporation of force-amplifying crystal technology into parts of the NAEGLING Mk. I, though in far more limited amounts than the MJOLNIR series.
 * Project ARONDIGHT - developed by NavSpecWep for use by the UNSC Marine Corps, it would eventually be merged with NAEGLING before it was transferred to the Army chain of command. Many of NAEGLING's current naval personnel were originally part of ARONDIGHT.

Remarks

 * "You see a couple of these take to the field and you know the Covenant are in for a world of hurt!"
 * "Only seven were ever produced of the Mark Nineteen, but if you add the ten Mark Twenty models added to the retrofitted Mark Nineteens, that brings the count up to seventeen. I doubt they'll ever become regular infantry gear, but they're great for SpecOps!"
 * "When you compare it to the MJOLNIR, its looks pathetic. But then you realise that the standards for MJOLNIR are so high that anything will look pathetic if you compare it. It doesn't have the thrusters of the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL prototype, and it lacks the missile launchers, but its still a fantastic weapon!"