Covenant drop pod

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A group of pods land on Earth.

The Orbital Insertion Pod is a ubiquitous, one-man Covenant-manufactured high-altitude deployment vehicle. It is roughly cylindrical in shape, but with two tapered, slightly angular ends. It is made of burnished cyan-purple metal, but has an opulent, white interior with a contour that conforms to the physique of a Covenant Elite. Upon impact with the ground, the pod splits into two halves, revealing the interior and allowing the Elite inside to escape and move.

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SpecOps Elite about to emerge out of his Drop Pod and fight againt the Flood

The Orbital Insertion Pod is a mode of transportation currently in use by the Covenant. When the Covenant decide to capture a planet rather than simply glassing it from orbit, they use orbital insertion pods to drop Elites to the planet’s surface as shock troops. Use of these pods is very hazardous and is reserved only for critical situations, or when a surprise attack is necessary. It is theorized that the pods are coated with an energy shield to disperse heat and are armored to withstand anti-air flak cannon fire. The vaguely coffin-shaped pods are small and cramped, with barely enough room for one Elite and his weapon and there appear to be no restraints or other devices inside. It is probable that a statis field holds the Elite safely in place during impact. Upon landing, the front of the pod blows off to allow exit, so the fronts are probably placed on the pod just before the drop.

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The Arbiter sitting in a drop pod, this shows that Bungie indeed intended that Elite players could indeed "Fly" it.

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A Minor Elite ejecting from a pod.

These pods were evident around New Mombasa during The First Battle of Earth. They also appear in the level Uprising as several allies aid the Arbiter. They also appeared in the Halo 3 level Floodgate sent by Shadow of Intent to aid Spartan-117 and the Arbiter against the Flood infestation in Voi. The impact is hard enough to break the occupying Elite's energy shield once it hits the ground.

It is Possible that these drop pods have an energy shield as it is impossible to kill an Elite while it is exiting the pod, or it may simply be game mechanics.

It is proposed that these pods are a Covenant spinoff of the Human Entry Vehicles (HEV)'s used by the ODST's, better known as "Helljumpers".

Dimensions

Height: 4.95 meters (16.2 feet)

Trivia

• Playing Halo 2, on higher difficulties, on the level Uprising when you are the Arbiter, it has been seen that the occupants in the insertion pods will die on impact immediately after the hatch on the pod blows open and apart, meaning that they are as dangerous and random as Human Entry Vehicles.
• Elites have to brace themselves as they land so they have a better chance of surviving.
• In Halo 2, they only appear in three levels, Outskirts, Sacred Icon and Uprising.
• There is a glitch on Floodgate where you can get in the Orbital Drop Pod like a vehicle.
• Floodgate is the only level in Halo 3 that they appear.
• Only Elites operate Orbital Insertion Pods.
• The first time the Covenant Orbital Insertion Pods were seen was the Halo 2 Announcement Trailer where Elites came down and openly challenged the Master Chief with lighted Energy Swords. This can only mean that these were influential warriors sent down from the Carrier overhead to eliminate any worthy force.
• It appears that Bungie originally was programing something into Halo 3 where you could hop into the pods, as on the level Floodgate if you are playing on Co-Op and you are either the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th player (An Elite) if the pods are not shot at all if you approach them and hold the Right Bumper you can jump into the pod.Template:Fact
• It could be possible that Bungie though of the idea of a Orbital Insertion Pod by watching the movie Predator because the Predator uses something exactly like that.