User:WikiReaper/Special Operations Airborne Reconnaissance

Special Operations Aviation and Reconnaissance (SOAR) is a special warfare group of the UNSC Army and the UNSC Special Operations Command. SOAR provides aviation for UNSC special warfare and general purpose ground units, including reconnaissance, close air support, and insertion / exfiltration. SOAR was developed/originated from the US 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment in the 21st Century.

Background
Special Operations Aviation Reconnaissance objective mostly deals with close air support and reconnaissance. Most of its operations are conducted at night, utilizing the Snowhawk Gunships at high speeds and low altitudes. SOARs would normally incorporate with the ODSTs in their Deep Ground Surveillance (or Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) operations, acting as pathfinders where they would dropped approximately thirty minutes before the ODST in order to locate designated drop zones and provide radio and visual guides for the main force in order to improve the accuracy of the jump. They are commonly involved in "Fire Support Coordination Line" (or FSCL) which concerned in location, disposition, composition and movement of enemy forces as evidenced in the Human-Covenant War theatre.

The current force consists of eight battalions: the 3rd and 5th on Earth, the 9th on Tribute, the 11th and 12th on Harvest, the 14th on Ares, the 17th on Mars, and the 18th on Coral. This allows SOAR to quickly position and assemble groups to meet short-notice special operation.

Being an optional/temporary job for either Marines or ONI Officers in its early age, SOAR became a fix military force during the events of the Interplanetary War, selecting those who meet its entrance requirements. The Special Operations Aviation Reconnaissance actively seeks and assigns the best-qualified aviators and support soldiers available in the UNSC Army. The unique mission of the unit requires that all members be three time volunteers (for example, UNSC Army, UNSC Airborne, SOAR). Once assigned, incoming officers and enlisted soldiers go through basic mission qualification. The Officer Qualification Course (OQC) lasts 22-30 weeks while the Enlisted Qualification Course (EQC) is three weeks in duration. Two other qualification levels exist, Fully Mission Qualified and Flight Lead (FMQFL). Associated progression through these levels are 12-24 months and 36-60 months respectively.

Origins
After the failure of 1980s Operation Eagle Claw, several proposal were made by the Chief Secratary General of the Army, one of them included the formation of a stealthy, short-notice Special Operations force. The Army looked to the 101st Aviation Battalion, which had the most diverse operating experience of the service's helicopter units, and selected elements of the 158th Aviation Battalion, 229th Aviation Battalion, and the 159th Aviation Battalion. The chosen pilots immediately entered intensive training in night flying. Dubbed Task Force 160, the new unit was quickly recognised as the Army's premier night fighting aviation force, and its only Special Operations Aviation force.

Stealthy and swift, the 160th SOAR performed their job well. However, on April 24, 2008, the company was inactivated as part of an overall regimental transformation plan.

Inner Colony Wars
The Special Operations Aviation Reconnaissance experienced its revival during the critical time of the Inner Colony Wars, a collection of battles which manage to spread and reaching Earth, tearing its culture and known as instant, unformatted news reports caused massive civil unrest. After a series of failed covert operations conducted by the ODSTs during the course of the Inner Colony Wars, the UNSC Army decided to reincarnate its archaic program and began recruiting cadets and crewmen as part of the Special Operations Aviation and Reconnaissance. With its short training program along with small augmentation/cybernetic enhancements, the recruits were limited to 20 battalions, which resulted to only 72 units.

Soon after, the small company was deployed in the most affected areas. Though the initial purpose was to give support to the ODSTs, several members of the Special Operations Aviation Reconnaissance manage to stray away and conduct several of its own operations, out of order, which successfully brought the Critical Time Period to almost zero. The SOAR proved to be a valuable asset in defending and invading high-profiled areas during Inner Colony Wars that the UNSC Army considered that the revived program should be a permanent fixture to its division.

Harvest Insurrection
The Special Operations Aviation Reconnaissance became involved with the Harvest Insurrection in the early 2500s. Dubbed as Operation: ABLE DANGER, a total of 4 SOAR battalions were deployed into combat, full insertion. The Operation was aimed on aiding the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers in capturing the leaders of the insurrectionist which would end the war. Most of the firefights took place in the cities, where many civilians were caught in the crossfire between both factions.

The UNSC tried to sought this issue through diplomatic relations but events had made it clear that the insurrectionists want freedom. The UNSC knew that the value of the colonies made them simply too important to abandon. At the end of the insurrection, both factions had nearly exhausted their arsenals and firefights became almost uncommon.

Human-Covenant War
Due to the short-notice of the Covenant Invasion, SOAR units were deployed on the affected areas of Earth, mainly the ones involving high-status figures and also governments' officials. Not much was known about the operations conducted during the Great War, except that there were several reports of failed counter-offensive missions.

Equipments
The Special Operations Aviation Reconnaissance utilizes a wide range of equipments, most specially modified to suit for the soldiers. The SOARs pioneered many of the techniques and helped develop much of the equipment now used at night by other UNSC aviation units.

Vehicles
SOAR operates a limited number of specialized aircraft for its operations, notably including the Dropship 77-Troop Carrier and the D41-TC Snowhawk Dropship.

Body Suits
Night Stalkers had several minor bio-augmentations to induce and enhance performances of its subjects. They wear the M71A Body Armour, otherwise known as Falcon Body Suit. These suits sport heavy, articulated and aerodynamic black body suits, which appears to be also a pressure armor that allows for safe and fast atmospheric entry and also provides fully-covered and fully-visored black helmets. In addition, the body suit has heating and cooling systems to mask the infra-red signature of the wearer, and it also has an oxygen tank capable of allowing 20 minutes in vacuum. The helmet contains state of the art communications gear, along with a Heads Up Display (HUD), along with thermal and motion detectors. If deployed via HALO jump, the suit would activate a drop-in system which would calculate and monitor the wearer's heart rate.

Weapons
Night Stalkers use the FAMAS G4C rifle as the standard firearm for mid-range assault. Close firefights would usually lead to the usage of the MA5K-S Carbine which proved to be the favourites of all UNSC Commandos. Other optional armaments are the G38 Modular Rifles and XMR-8/B, both an exemplary rifles capable for an all-out-firefight.