HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon: Difference between revisions

| type= [[Wikipedia:Nuclear weapon design#Clean bombs|"Clean" thermonuclear weapon]]<ref name="tfor200">'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', ''page 200'' (2001)</ref>

| cost=

| rate-title=Yield

| rate=30 megatons<ref name="reach">'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''',  ''page 3'' (2001); ''page 16'' (2010)</ref>

| affiliation=[[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]]

}}

==Variants==

===HAVOK nuclear mine===

The HAVOK mine is used in situations where the UNSC must eliminate enemy forces in an area already claimed by them, or to prevent an area from falling into their hands. However, there are situations where the UNSC will use a HAVOK to eliminate Covenant ships deploying infantry and equipment. Nuclear weapons like the HAVOK are employed often but not always, and are only used when all civilian and military populations have been either evacuated, or compromised in a target area.

===Mark 2556 MFDD===

==Tactical uses==

In [[2526]], HAVOKs were used during [[Operation: SILENT STORM]]. Three were used as part of a successful attack on the [[Fleet of Inexorable Obedience]]'s logistics train while the main part of the fleet was distracted [[glassing]] [[Biko]]. Later, they were used alongside [[octanitrocubane|octas]] during the attack on the planet [[Zhoist]] and the [[Ring of Mighty Abundance]] in orbit. During part of the attack, Spartan-II [[Blue Team]] used two HAVOKs to destroy the under-construction [[Covenant supercarrier]] ''[[Hammer of Faith]]''. This was accomplished by [[John-117]] and [[Kelly-087]] arming the HAVOKs and then tossing them into a [[gravity lift]] leading into the ship from a hanger bay in one of its construction barns. Blue Team managed to escape the blast in a group of Banshees, though the Banshees were fried from the gamma effects of the blast and the Banshees own poor gamma shielding.<ref name="Silent Storm">'''[[Halo: Silent Storm]]'''</ref>

On February 12, [[2535]] during the [[Battle of Jericho VII]], UNSC NavSpecWep deployed three teams of [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-IIs]] on [[Jericho VII]] to combat Covenant forces invading the colony. At one point during the engagement Red Team was successfully able to plant a HAVOK near a Covenant rally point where a [[Covenant cruiser|cruiser]] was to deploy ground forces while Blue Team was to clear out the rear guard of the Covenant forces so they could slip in. The plan was for the HAVOK to be detonated when the cruiser lowered its shields and landed to drop troops in order to take it out. Red Team succeeded in planting the device, but its unclear if the HAVOK ever destroyed a Covenant ship as the Spartans were recalled shortly thereafter and Jericho VII fell to the Covenant.<ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', ''Prologue''</ref>

In October–November 2552, HAVOK nuclear weapons were used during the [[Battle for Earth]]. One notable use was when Blue Team was deployed to [[Mount Erebus]] in the Antarctic to destroy a Covenant excavation force using a HAVOK.<ref>'''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]''', ''page 203''</ref>

During [[2553#December|December 2553]], ten disarmed HAVOKs were used as part of [[Operation: RETRIBUTION]] by [[Veta Lopis]]' [[Ferret]] team. The team claimed to gunrunner [[Ross Nyeto]] that they were [[piracy|pirates]] who had stolen the HAVOKs from the {{UNSCShip|Taulanti}} and were on the run from Blue Team as a result. In reality, four of the HAVOK shells contained their [[M7S SMG|M7S submachine guns]] while another was in fact a disguised [[distress beacon|slipbeacon]] intended to signal their location to the {{Class|Sahara|prowler}} {{UNSCShip|Silent Joe}}. After being brought aboard the ''[[Stolen Faith]]'', the Ferrets retrieved their weapons from the HAVOKs. With the discovery of the [[Keepers of the One Freedom]]'s [[Salvation Base]], it was decided to have Blue Team reactivate the nine HAVOKs by replacing their missing tritium booster cylinders and use them to destroy the base. [[Linda-058]] managed to reactivate six HAVOKs in the time she had on a five minute timer to the protests of Veta due to the human and [[Sangheili]] prisoners within the base. However, it was sadly recognized that they did not have time to rescue the prisoners with Keeper forces massing around them. Both Blue Team and the Ferrets escaped in a [[Turaco]] while the ''Silent Joe'' used [[Shiva-class nuclear missile]]s to attack six Keeper ships that tried to escape the blast. The detonation obliterated Salvation Base and killed all within it, including the prisoners, much to Veta's grief. It was estimated that nintey percent of the Keeper forces were destroyed and their operations in the sector crippled by the blast.<ref>'''[[Halo: Retribution]]'''</ref>

In [[2556]], the destruction of the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} on [[Installation 04]] was discovered to have created deposits of a new element unique to a fragment of the installation known as [[Alpha Shard]]. The new element was fatal only to humans and was used in [[Terrorist attack on Sedra City|a terrorist attack]] on [[Sedra City]]. To prevent such an attack again, [[ONI]] Commander [[Jameson Locke]] got [[Goodwin|Rear Admiral Goodwin]] to approve the use of a HAVOK to destroy the deposits. Accompanied by forces from the [[Sedran Colonial Guard]], [[Locke's team]] undertook [[Mission to Alpha Shard|a mission]] to the shard. In order to escape the shard, the HAVOK's emergency fuel cell was used to briefly power a [[Condor]] dropship, but this required a manual detonation of the warhead. As Locke and Private [[Talitha Macer]] escaped the shard in [[Bactrian-class freighter|the smugglers' ship]], Colonel [[Randall Aiken]] detonated the HAVOK, destroying the deposits and preventing their use ever again.<ref>'''Halo: Nightfall'''</ref>

In the aftermath of the ship's destruction, a [[Sangheili]] terrorist attempted to destroy the city of [[Rio de Janeiro]] with a smuggled HAVOK warhead; he was ultimately stopped by UNSC special forces operatives.<ref>''[[Spartan Ops]]'', [[Departure|S1E01 Departure]]</ref>