MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armour (Specops306)

Powered armour is nothing new to military engineers, and the first designs entered service as early as the mid- to late-21st Century. Over the next five centuries, however, the concept has undergone some radical shifts in design philosophy, has been abandoned, readopted, and abandoned again, various declared impractical or revolutionary, and was finally adopted by the UNSC Navy as cursory experiments in combat exoskeletons. Though it was by no means the only project to investigate these concepts, the MJOLNIR Project of 2512 was the best known of these projects, and after being adopted by Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey it would become the most recognisable and successful powered armour projects of all time. Numerous technologies initially developed for MJOLNIR would enter service in other military branches, and would field-test numerous experimental or dangerous technologies in combat conditions under SPARTAN-II or III personnel. With the disappearance of Doctor Halsey, the Project is currently under the auspices of Codename: VOLUND, also the head of Project: TEMERITY, supporting field-issue Mark V and VI armour systems and developing further improvements, additions, and replacements for future use.

Remarks

 * "Take a look at the Mark I/II/III. Now look at the VAJRA prototypes. Any similarities are fully intentional - VAJRA-I was marketed as a full-scale, bigger-budget and higher-effectiveness MJOLNIR. That is, until the Mark IV came along and blew it out of the water. Alas, what might have been..."
 * "Strictly speaking, it's just two models. The first-generation model was big, clunky, a waste of power and far, far, FAR too expensive for the results it produced. The second-generation model was divided into the Mark IV, V and VI only because ONI forced Halsey to use generational increments for standardisation purposes, since they were trying to introduce technology used for MJOLNIR into other service. The last three suits are basically one single series, with increasingly improved components. There's more difference between the Mark I and Mark II than there between the IV and VI."
 * "I remember some bright spark had the idea to stick a Marine in one of the IV's, take it for a test run. Maybe they had brass coming around, and he wanted to show them something worth while? Well, they got their show alright - it pulverised the poor guy to a pulp, and that was before he could even start the test!"
 * "So only Spartans get these? It figures. Faster, stronger, better protection, not to mention vastly superior digital uplinks and energy shields. Of course they go to Halsey's tin soldiers, while the real groundpounders, the men and women fighting and dying for the colonies, get jack shit."