The UNSC Prowler is a corvette[1] classification within the United Nations Space Command. They were used exclusively by the Office of Naval Intelligence and were often crewed by select ONI crews.[2]
This is most probably the UNSC equivalent of the Covenant Stealth Corvette.
Role
As per its namesake, it is used to gather electronic intelligence, and its primary role is to stay hidden while safely gathering such intelligence, not to charge into battle, as that would invariably be an irreversibly fatal tactic. Because of its tactical value and potential to change the outcome of any given combat situation, every UNSC Battlegroup has at least one Prowler assigned to its ranks[3].
The Prowler's only combat role, beside active combat monitoring and recording, is discreetly laying minefields of stealthed nuclear HORNET mines in orbital regions. Enemy ships that unknowingly enter these minefields can be destroyed by a single Prowler, allowing the remaining of the UNSC forces to move in and finish off the survivors with MAC strikes and Archer missiles. This stratagem allowed Battle Group Stalingrad to wage a short but devastating battle against the Covenant at Onyx, destroying significantly more ships than their own number, an extremely rare outcome among UNSC-Covenant engagements.
However, Prowlers are also equipped with "minimal weapons systems," which include two or more pulse lasers. It is unknown whether these lasers were retrofitted after contact with the Covenant and reverse-engineering their technology, or whether they were developed using pre-Covenant technologies by UNSC scientists.
The UNSC Prowler is based upon the EA-6B Prowler aircraft in use by the US Marine Corps and Navy, serving in a similar intelligence role. Though not a stealth craft, it is similarly capable of gathering intelligence and conducting electronic warfare against enemy forces.
Stealth Systems
- Ablative baffles
- Active Camouflage
- Counter-electronic systems
- Stealth Ablative Coating
- Texture bufferers
Known ships
Trivia
- Two ONI Prolwers are belived to be featured in the Halo: Combat Evolved multiplayer mapBoarding Action.
Sources
- ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach pg. 281
- ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 162
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 329