A Hoplite in GEN1 ASPIS semi-powered assault armor.

The HOPLITE program is an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper special missions and supercommando program. Alongside the Spartan programs, is among the longest-running and most successful human augmentation projects in the second half of the 26th century. An all-volunteer outfit, Hoplites are recruited mainly from the existing ranks of the ODSTs but also other UNSC Special Forces and across the military overall.

History

Initiated in the mid-Human-Covenant War, the HOPLITE program stemmed with the 105th Shock Troops Special Missions Detachment's experiments with ODST-Spartan joint operations. The considerable gap in the physical capabilities of the common ODST and the Spartans led to NAVSPECWAR looking into options for applying biological and/or cybernetic augmentation to ODSTs. Despite early setbacks, the Hoplite program proved moderately successful in the war's final years, though budget limitations and immature technology kept it relatively fringe even among the ODSTs. It was only in the post-war years that the project took off and expanded to other ODST divisions, fueling further interest in biological and mechanical augmentation within the entire UNSC Special Forces community.

While initially restricted to select units of ODSTs, the ultimate goal of the program is to widen its scope and make augmentation technology safer, more reproducible, and more widespread in the UNSC military as a whole. The UNSC's goal as of 2557 was that by the 2580s, all ODSTs would receive early-Hoplite levels of endurance and strength augmentation.

The Hoplite augmentations represent a return of sorts to Project ORION protocols, coupled with many technologies directly or indirectly derived from the parallel SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III programs. However, the latter types of augmentations had to be "watered down" in order to safely apply them on adults, whereas in some cases they were substituted with alternate procedures. In terms of raw physicality, the Hoplites are around halfway between an ODST and a Spartan as of the program's third generation. While physically quite strong, the Hoplites lack the Spartans' superconducting neural augmentations due to the difficulty of applying such augmentations on fully-grown adults.

Generation 1

Initial phase including a limited run of experimental augmentations given to operators within a single battalion-size unit. Launched in 2539, the first generation augmentations saw limited success with some of the augmentations posing later complications. Namely, the lack of adequate tendon or cardiovascular reinforcement led to costly maintenance procedures having to be applied on the first-generation Hoplite operators, many of whom were still forced to an early medical retirement by the 2550s.

Augmentation procedures

• Cybernetics: Command Neural Interface, type depends by specialization.
• Genetic/hormonal therapies; targeted steroids for muscle growth
• Combat pharmaceutical implants

Generation 2

A late-war era run launching in 2547 with a less ambitious augmentation regimen and various experimental armor components developed in parallel with Project MJOLNIR (e.g. Recon); still, largely used standard ODST gear, though some recon units experimented with SPI armor. The new augmentations were originally tested with small numbers of SPARTAN-III company "dropouts" in what was known as Project YOKAI. The second-generation Hoplites were moderately successful, though their physical enhancements were found lacking. Complications from the augmentations were minor, with some operators suffering hormonal imbalances and miscellaneous fringe issues.

Augmentation procedures

• Cybernetics: advanced Command Neural Interface, type depends by specialization.
• Supporting augmentations: Heart and cardiovascular system augmentation to keep up with enhanced physical capabilities. Tendon, ligament and joint reinforcement.
• Muscular: fibroid muscular protein complex derived from CHRYSANTHEMUM
• Genetic/hormonal therapies; targeted steroids for muscle growth + hormonal regulation implants
• Combat pharmaceutical implants

Generation 3

The Hoplite program became most prominent with its Generation 3. After testing the improved augmentations with small groups of subjects over the course of several years, the third generation was launched in 2557 with a cut-down company-size unit as a proof of concept. The third generation saw the introduction of stable augmentation regimen, standard-issue armor and an organizational overhaul. By the mid-2560s, the program already encompassed several battalions.

Overall, third-generation Hoplites are stronger and have superior endurance to baseline humans, but they still fall short of Spartan-II or Spartan-III capabilities, especially in reaction time and speed due to the risks involved with replicating CHRYSANTHEMUM-type neural augmentations on adults. The Hoplite enhancements' effects on the subject's pre-existing height and size are also negligible. They are partly able to compensate for this with advancing technology, particularly since the advent of the Hoplites' bespoke armor.

While the Hoplites' genetic and physiological selection criteria are much looser than those of the Spartans, many restrictions remain. By 2560, the servicepeople that can be safely augmented are estimated to encompass about one-fourths of the UNSC military's overall population, though as technology improves, this bracket will likely widen. Subjects on the younger side are preferred (the ideal being below 21 years), and the maximum age for safe augmentation remains around the mid-twenties; the specific age varies by the individual and his or her level of physical development. All candidates must be in perfect physical and mental health, above-average scores in psychometric tests, have excellent physical condition and no black marks in their service dossiers, and always have thorough background checks performed on their personal history. Since 2562, the UNSC military's basic medical examinations have included a routine screening for genetic markers suitable for the Hoplite augmentation regimen, with promising individuals flagged as potential candidates for later review. The age limitations pose various challenges for the program, as most veteran ODSTs are past the safe age bracket.

Augmentation procedures

• Cybernetics: advanced Command Neural Interface, type dependent on operator specialization. Possibility of external direct-to-brain sensory input and limited reaction time improvements enabled via cybernetic means.
• Supporting augmentations: Heart and cardiovascular system augmentation to keep up with enhanced physical capabilities. Tendon, ligament and joint reinforcement.
• Skeletal: low-key chemical bone reinforcement; may not be CHRYSANTHEMUM-based
• Muscular: fibroid muscular protein complex derived from CHRYSANTHEMUM
• Genetic/hormonal therapies; targeted steroids for muscle growth + hormonal regulation implants
• Combat pharmaceutical implants

(Retirement plan, e.g. who "owns" the augmentations?)

Generation 4

Launched in the mid-2570s; improved on the third generation in most ways; wider genetic and age bracket, safer and more refined augmentations, and armor with recharging shields as standard-issue. Possibly working neurological/reaction time augmentations.

Technology

ASPIS Semi-Powered Assault Armor

Issued for the program's third generation, the Hoplites' ASPIS Semi-Powered Assault Armor (colloquially known simply as the Hoplite armor) is a hybridization of technologies developed for Projects MJOLNIR and MIRAGE, as well as various ODST armor development programs that ran during the war. The ASPIS armor is designed to be compatible with most other modern UNSC armor systems and webbing according to the M43 CES standard, and can be customized with swappable modules and variant components. Manufactured by Earth-based Beweglichkeitsrüstungsysteme, the current ASPIS suit was the best option chosen out of several contractors' offers.

Mark I (2557)

• Rudimentary, scaled-back version of the MJOLNIR's force-amplification and active-support piezoelectric mesh
• Lightweight titanium-composite alloy outer shell with anti-plasma refractive coating
• Strike shielding powered by a battery pack
• Modular sensor suite design with variable plug-in modules

Mark II (2568)

• MJOLNIR-derived micro-fusion plant along with a full recharging energy shield
• New materials with Covenant-derived laminar plating

MIRAGE suits

Recon-oriented Hoplites continue to use the MIRAGE Semi-Powered Infiltration Armor.

Combat automation

Since the third generation, the integration of support drones and combat support AI has been a mainstay of Hoplite units, from the individual squads to the company and battalion levels. While the use of drones hardly not unique among the ODSTs and the UNSC military overall, the Hoplite program piloted various novel technologies to further enhance that integration. One of these is the use of advanced CNIs on drone controller specialists, which enables them much greater control over their unit's drone complement along with interfacing with the attached AIs.

Production notes

Narratively, the Hoplite program is the closest thing the Daybreak Continuum has to 343i canon's Spartan-IVs, being a post-war UNSC augmentation program for adult volunteers. However, its timeline, characterization and capabilities are entirely original to fit Daybreak's more grounded tone as well as to underline the limitations the UNSC is operating under. Daybreak has an actual, entirely separate SPARTAN-IV program, which is only launched in the 2580s and bears little resemblance to either the Hoplites or 343i's Spartan-IVs.