SPARTAN-III Project

The Spartan-III project is a military project in the fictional Halo universe.

The project was formally introduced in the novel Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, but first mentioned in the novel Halo: First Strike, the Spartan-IIIs are the next generation in the Spartan series. The difference between the Spartan-III series and their predecessors (the Spartan-II's) is that the Spartan-IIIs were designed to be expendable. This time led by Colonel Ackerson and other members of ONI Section III. It is believed that the S-III project is unknown to others within the UNSC, possibly even those within ONI. At this point, it is unclear as to if these new soldiers will make an appearance in any subsequent games that take place within the Halo universe.

Background
Beginning in October of 2531, the Spartan-III project was spearheaded by Colonel James Ackerson as a way to try and introduce more Spartan super-soldiers into the battlefield in order to try and mimic the astounding success of the Spartan-IIs without the costs and time required to produce them and their MJOLNIR battle armor. Operating completely in the dark, Colonel Ackerson set up Camp Currahee on Onyx after picking up Spartan-051, Kurt, a member of the legendary "Blue Team," during a mission in which his backpack was purposely sabotaged in order to send him off into space. Kurt was marked MIA (standard protocol to list any dead Spartans as MIA in order to maintain morale among the UNSC troops), and was renamed as Lt. Ambrose, and was no longer ranked as a Spartan. Along with Chief Petty Officer Mendez, they trained the first three hundred of the Spartan-IIIs, also known as Alpha Company. All of Alpha Company died on a mission to shut down a Covenant shipyard to slow down the Covenant's conquest of Earth space. The second wave of Spartan-III's trained, also known as Beta company, fared little better. Most of these soldiers died except for two, Lucy and Tom, who continue to train the next company of Spartan-IIIs, Gamma Company. Only three companies were ever trained, all hovering around three hundred recruits each. Unlike the SPARTAN-IIs, who were composed of abducted children, the SPARTAN-IIIs were composed of vengeful orphans from fallen colonies like Harvest, Jericho VII, and Biko. There was also a scene when the UNSC carrier, The Agincourt, was dropping off supplies for the next Spartan Company to be trained, Delta Company, but it never began because of the activation of the Forerunner Sentinels on Planet Onyx.

Technical Information
Similar in many ways to the Spartan-IIs, receiving the same chemicals to enhance their body as well as similar training. Listed below are four chemicals/proteins administered to the Spartan-IIIs on the UNSC medical ship, Hopeful.


 * 1) 8942-LQ99-Carbide Ceramic Ossification: Chemical used to strengthen the bones. Once infused into the body, the subject's bones became virtually unbreakable and allowed for the Spartan to support the weight of their MJOLNIR armor (in the case of the Spartan-IIs). Use on pubescent children would typically result in bone pulverization if a growth spurt occurred.
 * 2) 88005-MX77 Fibrofoid Muscular Protein: Muscle protein that was injected directly into the muscles of the subject. Once administered, the muscles would experience a large increase in muscular density as well as prolonged endurance and shortened recovery time.
 * 3) 88947-OP24 Retina Inversion Stabilizer: This chemical increases blood flow to the eyes as well as the nerves to the brain. With these improvements, the subject would experience a boost in their color vision as well as nighttime vision.
 * 4) 87556-UD61 Improving colloidal neural disunification, halving reaction time.

As well as these four chemicals and proteins, three more were presumably administered exclusively to Gamma Company.


 * 1) 009927-DG, 009127-PX, and 009782-OO Consisting of miso-olanzapine, cyclodexione-4, and a mutagen that alters the frontal lobe, these three chemicals were administered to Gamma Company during Project CHRYSANTHEMUM in secret. The mutagen, when applied, changed the subject's frontal lobe in such a way that a person would have reserves of strength that no normal human could call upon, as well as being able to continue to operate even when they are in systemic shock. The side effects are very risky though, repressing the higher reasoning sections of the brain. Therefore, the other two chemicals are administered in order to prevent psychopathy and bi-polar tendencies.

While it assumed the Spartan-IIIs received the a same cocktail as the Spartan-IIs, it is not known if the Platinum pellet was implanted into the thyroid gland of the Spartan-IIIs. Without it there would be a decrease in muscle mass between the Spartan-IIs and the Spartan-IIIs. Another effect that would be missing is the suppressed sexual drive. It can be reasoned that it was implanted or administered through a chemical, but it was not mentioned in The Ghosts of Onyx.

A notable change between the two programs is the type of armor the Spartans wore. Instead of using Mark V or Mark VI MJOLNIR armor, the Spartan-IIIs were given Semi-Powered Infiltration Armor (abbreviated as SPI Armor). Not many specifics are known about the SPI armor suit but its most notable feature is its ability to allow the user to blend in with their surroundings with optical transducers that covered the entire suit of armor. Another major difference is its lack of a shield and marked decrease in overall armor protection.

The Spartan-IIIs also used a new variant of the MA5B Assault Rifle, the MA5K. Very little is known about the difference in models; other than the MA5K is a cut down version, slightly shorter than the MA5B in length. During Operation TORPEDO in 2545 they used the M19-B SAM (Ballistic Surface to Air Missile) also nicknamed "SPNKr" launcher.

Living Spartan-III's

 * SPARTAN-B091 "Lucy"[Active Duty, Currently in the Micro Dyson Sphere of Planet Onyx]
 * SPARTAN-B292 "Tom" [Active Duty, Currently in the Micro Dyson Sphere of Planet Onyx]
 * SPARTAN-G099 "Ash" [Active Duty, Currently in the Micro Dyson Sphere of Planet Onyx]
 * SPARTAN-G??? "Olivia" [Active Duty, Currently in the Micro Dyson Sphere of Planet Onyx]
 * SPARTAN-G??? "Mark" [Active Duty, Currently in the Micro Dyson Sphere of Planet Onyx]
 * SPARTANS-GAMMA COMPANY "Team Katana" [Active Duty, Currently in the Micro Dyson Sphere of Planet Onyx in suspended animation]
 *  SPARTANS-GAMMA COMPANY  [Active Duty, Whereabouts Unkown.] (315 of the 330 Spartans from Gamma Company were deployed before the events on Onyx)

Deceased Spartan-III's

 * "Team Wolf Pack" [All KIA, Covenant Shipyard]
 * SPARTAN-A(Unknown) "Shane" [KIA, Covenant shipyard]- Overwhelmed by Covenant forces.
 * SPARTAN-A(Unknown) "Robert" [KIA, Covenant shipyard]- Overwhelmed by Covenant forces.
 * SPARTAN-A(Unknown) "Jane" [KIA, Covenant shipyard]- Overwhelmed by Covenant forces.
 * SPARTAN-B004 "Adam" [KIA, Covenant factory, Pegasi Delta]- Became paralyzed from waist down after Needler rounds hit his midsection. Stayed behind to deter Covenant Elite forces.
 * SPARTAN-B174 "Min" [KIA, Covenant factory, Pegasi Delta]- Caught in the blast of a misfired explosive.
 * SPARTAN-G122 "Holly" [KIA, Onyx]- Killed protecting Kelly-087, from the blast of a Hunter's Fuel Rod Cannon.
 * SPARTAN-G188 "Dante" [KIA, Onyx]- Perhaps the greatest effect of the new batch of chemicals used on the Spartan-IIIs was demonstrated by Dante. After receiving multiple wounds that would kill any normal man, Dante was capable of walking and talking just prior to complete system failure. He had been taken down by several Needler shards that detonated while lodged in his midsection, as well as second and third-degree burns from Covenant plasma projectiles.


 * SPARTAN Alpha Company [All KIA - OPERATION PROMETHEUS in 2537]


 * SPARTAN Beta Company [298 SPARTAN-IIIs KIA]
 * Only Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091 survived, out of the 300 SPARTANS that hit the ground; 9 died during orbital insertion, the rest destroyed by Covenant forces.

Trivia

 * Kurt Ambrose is named after Stephen E. Ambrose author of Band of Brothers, a novel which follows the men of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne. Also, the Spartan-III training facility Camp Currahae, is named after Currahae Mountain, which the 101st Airborne ran repeatedly during their training at Camp Toccoa.