Editing UH-144 Falcon

|image=[[File:HaloReach - Falcon.png|300px]]

|affiliation=

*[[UNSC Army]]{{Ref/Reuse|universe}}

**[[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]]{{Ref/Level|[[Halo: Reach]]|[[New Alexandria]]}}

==Overview==

Distinguished by its unquestionably effective and relatively heavy weaponry,{{Ref/Reuse|EVG}}{{Ref/Reuse|old waypoint}} the Falcon is capable of being fitted with a wide variety of armaments. The primary armament of the Falcon is an [[M638 autocannon|M638 20mm autocannon]], fixed in a nose turret below the pilot's main cabin. The autocannon provides effective suppressive fire when extracting or deploying personnel.{{Ref/Reuse|universe}} Flanking the vehicle on both sides are modular weapon emplacements that vary depending on the Falcon variant.{{Ref/Reuse|old waypoint}} The emplacements are installed on flexible mount [[hardpoint]]s on either side of the open cabin, selected at the discretion of the Falcon's crew.{{Ref/Reuse|universe}} The UH-144A variant is armed with a pair of [[M460 automatic grenade launcher]]s, while the UH-144S variant sports standard [[M247H machine gun|M247H 12.7mm heavy machine guns]]. Both have proven incredibly effective against [[Covenant]] aircraft and providing point-to-point suppressive and attack fire on enemy ground emplacements and infantry.{{Ref/Reuse|old waypoint}}

*'''[[UH-144A Falcon]]''': The "attack" variant of the Falcon, armed with two side-mounted [[M460 automatic grenade launcher]]s as secondary armament.{{Ref/Reuse|EVG}}

[[File:HM-UH144.png|thumb|200px|A UH-144 Falcon during the [[Insurrection]].{{Ref/Reuse|mythos}}]]

Falcons were used throughout the [[Human-Covenant War]], including during the [[Battle of Fumirole]] in [[2552#April|April 2552]].<ref>''[[Deliver Hope]]''</ref> Falcons were used extensively during the [[Fall of Reach]] throughout the [[2552|summer of 2552]]. Notably, the Falcons [[Kilo 33]] and [[Kilo 34|34]] transported [[NOBLE Team]] to [[SWORD Base]] in an effort to end the [[Covenant]] assault on the facility.<ref>'''Halo: Reach''', campaign level, ''[[ONI: Sword Base]]''</ref> Numerous Falcons later participated in the [[Battle at Szurdok Ridge]].<ref>''Halo: Reach'', campaign level, ''[[Tip of the Spear]]''</ref> Falcons would later participate in evacuation efforts and troop movement operations during the [[Siege of New Alexandria]]. One would carry [[SPARTAN-B312]] to [[Caracalla Park]] to disable an {{Pattern|Ceudar|heavy corvette}} pinning down escaping civilian transport ships.<ref>'''Halo: Reach''', campaign level, ''[[Exodus]]''</ref> Later during the siege, B312 piloted a Falcon to aid UNSC forces across the city and take down Covenant jammers.<ref>'''Halo: Reach''', campaign level ''[[New Alexandria]]''</ref> Several Falcons later saw action during the [[Battle of Installation 04]], having survived the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}}'s initial arrival on the ring in [[2552#September|September 2552]]. These craft aided [[Fireteam Raven]] in various ground actions against the Covenant occupational forces.<ref>''[[Halo: Fireteam Raven]]''</ref> Falcons were also used during the [[Battle for Earth]] with one such craft that crashed into a [[Unidentified hotel|hotel]] in the [[New Mombasa]] [[Section 21]] during the [[Battle of Mombasa]].<ref name="breakneck">''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]'', multiplayer map [[Breakneck]]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20141012164719/https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/haloanniversary/maps ''Halo Waypoint'': Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - Maps] (Original version is defunct, link to Copy)</ref>

[[File:HR UH-144Falcon Concept 5.jpg|thumb|left|225px|Concept art of the UH-144 Falcon.]]

Early renders of the Falcon from earlier stages of ''Reach''{{'}}s [[Development of Halo: Reach|development]] saw the aircraft labelled with decals reading "VMX-22". In the real-world, [[Wikipedia:VMX-22|VMX-22]] was an organisation responsible for testing the [[Wikipedia:Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey|MV-22B Osprey]] tiltrotor aircraft. The final game's model lacks these decals, though still retains some other unit markings such as [[Air Mobility Express]].

*A [[Wikipedia:Falcon|falcon]] is a bird of prey, in keeping with the UNSC's tradition of naming atmospheric vehicles after real animals with the exceptions of the [[GA-TL1 Longsword]], [[B-65 Shortsword]], [[F-41 Broadsword]], and [[FSS-1000 Sabre]], which are named after bladed weapons.