Suppressor

For the Forerunner weapon, see Z-130 Suppressor; for the Forerunner electronic warfare technology, see AI suppressor.

A suppressor attachment

A suppressor is a device attached to a firearm to reduce the amount of noise and flash generated by firing the weapon. It generally takes the form of a cylindrically-shaped metal tube that is attached onto the barrel of a firearm, with various internal mechanisms to reduce the sound of firing by slowing the escaping propellant gas, and sometimes by reducing the velocity of the bullet. The point is to keep the user concealed and undetected. Suppressors are also commonly used to help reduce the risk of a weapon's operator or those around them suffering from hearing damage or loss, especially in close quarters combat, in which soldiers will of course typically use firearms while in very close proximity to one another.

Known suppressors

SS/M 49

Appearances in Halo

A suppressed M6 sidearm.

The suppressor makes its first gameplay appearance in Halo 2 Vista, and is mentioned in The Art of Halo,^[1] on the M7/Caseless Submachine Gun. In Halo 3: ODST it has made an appearance attached to the end of an M7S Caseless Submachine Gun and M6C/SOCOM used by an ODST. In the novels, the suppressor was used in many battles by the SPARTAN-IIs, when they attached it to their MA5Bs^[2], and the M7S was also used by Staff Sergeants Byrne and Johnson at the beginning of Halo: Contact Harvest.

Trivia

The original plan for the suppressor, which originated around the time of World War II, was to modify the sound of the weapon firing into a different, unrecognizable sound, rather than to reduce loudness of a discharge, as its name suggests.
The popular name for the suppressor is "silencer", but this is a misnomer as sound is still present.
It is also unknown whether if the Covenant has a counterpart to this attachment, though it is unlikely considering the little noise their weapons typically cause and the Covenant's preference for face-to face combat.
The suppressor on the M6C/SOCOM cannot be physically found. It is "hidden" inside the compensator.