The ORION Project was initiated in the year 2491 during the early stages of what would become a scattered civil war throughout the Outer Colonies. The Project based itself on the concept of creating a new generation of Special Forces, specifically, developing bio-augmented supersoldiers. It falls under the Naval Special Warfare Command (NavSpecWarCom \GrONE\SnTmA\Sn) arm of ONI and the UNSC Navy. However, most authorized military personnel refer to the ORION Project as the "Spartan-I Program", having learned about Section Three's SPARTAN-II Program before or after 2547.

 

As the ORION Project apparently was a much larger program, it may be assumed that the new special warfare force was only one part of the Project in its entirety. The program might have consisted of several other development divisions, such as armament and logistics, explaining the sole usage of the M99 Special Applications Scoped Rifle by UNSC Special Forces.

 

One known operation conducted by the ORION Project Special Forces is Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE which took place on March 13, 2502 on Harvest. The mission involved the assassination of Jerald Mulkey Ander - an experienced special weapons operative and the leader of the Secessionist Union (or the People's Occupation Government), a leftist rebel organization. The operation was a success, leading to a supposed downfall of the People's Occupation Government. For a grid and detailed footage of Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE, click here.

 

One of the main reasons the ORION Project was started was the increasing number of insurgent and pirate activity which, as analyzed by UNSC military forecasters, was due to grow considerably over a few decades. This triggered an emergency response in ONI, leading to the beginnings of Operation: TREBUCHET, a prolonged battle against Insurrectionists spanning multiple star systems, two of them being the Epsilon Eridani System and the Eridanus Star System (although it is unclear whether or not the two star systems are the same).

 

By 2517 another special warfare program was initiated: the SPARTAN-II Program. After this new program, it is unknown whether the ORION Project is still active, although it is likely that its ordnance and structure could have transitioned to another arm of NavSpecWarCom.

 

Note: Discrepancies and arguments regarding the true value of I Love Bees in Halo canon has led to this page not containing information from this particular source.

 

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