Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV

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Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV
Historical information
Entered Service	2525
Technical information
Type	Mjolnir Armor
Real-world information
Games Featured In	Halo 5: Guardians,"Halo Wars", and "Halo Wars 2" (soon to be in HALO Infinite in the Season 6 update)
Unlock Conditions	Halo 5: Guardians REQ system
Armor Skins	Halo 5: Guardians Arcadia
REQ information
Rarity Tier	Helmet Regular: Legendary Arcadia: Legendary Chest Regular: Legendary Arcadia: Legendary

You're the only ones who can use them, Petty Officer. Who else could we give them to?

— Dr. Halsey

The Mark IV Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor were a series of Mjolnir Powered Assault Armors created, modified, and fielded in the second quarter of the 26th-century.

Operational History

The first suit to fall into the "Mark IV" designation was issued to SPARTAN-II commandos on November 27th, 2525. The armor would be field tested immediately as the armor was acquired in the middle of the Battle of Chi Ceti.

By January 7, 2535, MJOLNIR armors began to use official designations. Meaning all armors previous to that point were given designations. Various modified chassis and pieces of hardware already used were thus labelled as Mark IV. Much of this mass labeling by the UNSC was due to budgetary reasons.

It was in service until November 24th, 2551, when the Mark IV began being replaced by the Mark V. John-117 was known to use the Mark IV until an unspecified later date due to him being in the field when the Mark V originally entered service.

After the creation of the SPARTAN-IV program, a damaged Mark IV helmet was acquired by the program. It would become the last thing that candidates would see before undergoing their augmentation procedures.

The members of Red Team aboard the UNSC Spirit of Fire still donned their Mark IVs by the year 2559. However, the helmet of Douglas-042 was crushed by Atriox.

Design

Various Mark IV armors used by SPARTAN-IIs at the Battle of Circinius IV.

Created alongside the SPARTAN-II Program, the Mjolnir Mark IV Armor was a radical redesign to previous powered exoskeletons, streamlining their design into a practical purpose for use in the field. The brainchild of Dr. Catherine Halsey, the Mark IV represented her vision of creating a powered exoskeleton capable of taking full advantage of the physical capabilities of a SPARTAN-II. The Mjolnir battlesuit is constructed in overlapping layers. It is a sealed system, capable of extravehicular activity or operations in toxic atmosphere and vacuum. It is hardened against EMP and radiation, and has filters that are completely effective at removing toxins and bacteria from local atmosphere.

The armor's shell is composed of a multilayer alloy of remarkable strength which has been augmented with a refractive coating capable of dispersing a limited amount of Covenant energy weapon strikes. The suit contains a gel-filled layer underneath a thick black armored bodysuit. The gel layer regulates temperature and can reactively change its density in a few seconds. The inner skinsuit is made of a moisture-absorbing synthetic material linked to an environmental control computer and the occupant's SPARTAN-issue Command Neural Interface. An upgrade to the standard Neural Interface is issued to all high-ranking officers; another modified version of the neural lace is issued to all SPARTAN-IIs in the UNSC as well. This network translates electrochemical signals to digital code and routes them through an interface connection at the rear of the skull. Through this interface, the user's thoughts command the armor's movement and weapons and input from the onboard sensors comes directly to the user's mind. The synthesis of machine and mind is so fast that it is almost impossible to chart the reaction time. Unfortunately, the system is so reactive that normal human beings cannot use the suit without injuring or even killing themselves. Only humans who have undergone carbide ceramic ossification, a bone-strengthening treatment from the SPARTAN-II augmentation program, have been shown to safely operate the suit.

Sandwiched between the external armor and the internal padding is the most devastating weapon the suit carries: a layer of reactive metal liquid crystal. Woven by molecular tools into a superdense layer, this layer is amorphous, yet it amplifies force, doubling lifting capability and increasing reaction time by a factor of five. Such technology did not exist when work began on the Mark I prototypes.

Because of these advancements, the design is more akin to an actual suit of armor, as opposed to a powered exoskeleton; the user moves the suit, and in return the suit moves the user. This allows for an incredibly compact design when compared to other combat systems. The armor contains numerous features including an integrated computer system which continuously monitors weapons, biological functions, and a "smart" motion-sensing radar. The suit also contains a built-in oxygen re-breather system that can provide air for up to ninety minutes. The suit's helmet also features imaging and video recording, and thermal sensors among other features.

In its final phase the Mjolnir battle suit weighed nearly half of a metric ton, or 1000 lbs, and when used, was a fully neural-linked system and was the most advanced piece of tactical military hardware in human hands at the time of its inception.

With proper firmware updates, the Mark IV suit can be used with MJOLNIR Generation 2 techsuits and VISRs.

Armor Components

A schematic of a Mark IV armor.

• Helmet: The Mjolnir Helmet is one of the most vital aspects to the Mjolnir system. It is made of Titanium and contains key features like a Heads-up display that links to the brain and hands, and can identify equipment and display information about it when it is picked up by the wearer. Another feature is the direct neural interface system which connects to a SPARTAN-IIs neural implants. Two core processor chips are implanted into the subjects skull in the rear of the head. This is essentially comparable to an on board computer using parts of the human brain for processing - when the connector at the rear of the subjects head and receptors in the brain link to the helmets on board sensors it creates the neural link needed to move the Mjolnir suit. The helmet also contains other equipment to protect and aid the user in hostile conditions. This includes: filters to remove toxins from the atmosphere, a supply to provide air to the wearer during EVA, thermal and motion sensors, communications, solar-powered lighting, and imaging and video gear.

• Titanium Alloy Outer Shell: The outer shell of the Mjolnir Armor is comprised of a fairly thick titanium alloy. This plating covers the chest, arms, hip, legs, calf's, feet and hands. This alloy is very resilient, can take significant punishment, and is nearly impervious to small arms fire. While enough shots from armor piercing rounds will breach the outer shell, the suit can take a few glancing blows from them without compromising the armor. The outer shell of the Mjolnir suit is covered with a refractive coating to help disperse the heat experienced from Covenant energy weapons. However one or two direct hits from any Plasma weapon will compromise the armor plating.

• Titanium Nanocomposite Bodysuit: Sandwiched between the external armor and the internal padding is a thick black armored bodysuit. This suit has numerous functions, small but vital to the safety and survival of the wearer. The bodysuit is made of a titanium-based material, making it very strong and yet very flexible. It also serves as another layer of protection against ballistics attacks and is coated with a heat resistant material to disperse heat from plasma weapons.

• Hydrostatic Gel: Underneath the armored bodysuit is a gel-filled layer, this gel layer regulates the temperature of the suit and can change its density to conform to the wearer's shape - the temperature inside the suit is controlled by the moisture absorbing cloth suit underneath the hydrostatic layer. The hydrostatic gel layer can also be pressurized to various levels to potentially save the wearers life should the wearer be subjected to high G forces or a high velocity impact; however, over pressurizing this layer can cause nitrogen embolisms.

• Reactive Metal Liquid Crystal Layer: Liquid crystal forms the inner structure of the suit. This reactive metal increases the strength, reaction time, mobility, speed, and all around physical performance of the SPARTAN-II. This layer of crystal, knitted together at a molecular level and fitted in between the outer plates and the inner padding, accounts for over eighty percent of the Mjolnir Armors cost of construction and materials.

• Magnetic Weapon Holder Strips:Available on the Mk. IV, Mk. V, and Mk. VI, the magnetic strips are very small yet powerful magnets placed on the legs, waist, and back of the suit and is used to hold any equipment with a magnetic property. The suit also contains a magnet system on the boots of the Mjolnir suit that allow its wearer to stay attached to a metal surface in Zero G environments and can be toggled on or off by the wearer.

• Pressure Seal: The Pressure Seal is a vital component to the Mjolnir system, it keeps the system airtight, underwater or in space. The seal is very strong but will only break under extreme pressure, such as in a high velocity impact or when the Hydrostatic Gel has been over pressurized.

• Biofoam Injector Port: The biofoam injectors on the Mark IV is a port where a direct supply of biofoam or other medicines, must be administered from a standard military first aid kit when the wearer is injured, as the suit does not hold or generate its own supply inside the suit.

• Fusion Reactor: The fusion reactor is the most essential part of the Mjolnir System, as it provides power to all equipment on the Mjolnir Armor, the reactor is built into the suit and allows for nearly unlimited movement. The fusion reactor in all versions of the Mjolnir Armor are half the size of a normal fusion pack that conventional marines carry around.

Variants

Throughout the Human-Covenant War, the Mark IV became a testing bed for new technologies and hardware to help improve the integrity of both the system and the efficiency of it in certain combat conditions. While some of these variants of the Mark IV MJOLNIR Armor are rumors and have never been witnessed in the field, some have become common knowledge.

Picture	Variant	Description
N/A	Mark IV Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor/Advanced Hardware Prototype	The Mjolnir advanced hardware prototype refers to a series of hardware and technologies developed for testing and incorporation into later versions of the Mjolnir Armor. The advanced prototype is a single variant, that changes in appearance for research and development of future Mjolnir components.
	Mark IV/EVA Variant	The Mjolnir Mark IV Extra Vehicular Activity variant was developed to focus on increasing exo-atmospheric endurance and improving mobility in zero gravity. The movement could be controlled with the use of a T-PACK, or Thruster Pack, attached to the armor. This was not without dangers however; in case the T-PACK would malfunction, the wearer would be propelled into deep space where a rescue would be nearly impossible. The V variant of the Mjolnir Armor contains a reverse-angle camera on the helmet to allow for better view of anything behind the wearer. The helmet also contains a single-beam laser TEAMCOM system for communications. The only limitation of this variant is the mobility of the wearer is a fraction of normal movement. Technologies developed for the Mark IV EVA variant were later applied for the V Variant of the Mark VI armor. However, this version was able to maneuver in vacuum without the original use of thruster packs.
	Mark IV/Grenadier Variant	The Mark IV [G] variant is an up-armored prototype based on the standard Mark IV helmet. It served as the basis for all subsequent armor variant development programs, and is also compatible with later models such as the Mark V. Additionally, the variant served as the test bed for incorporating energy shielding technology with the Mjolnir.
	Mark IV/Security Variant	An early iteration of the Security helmet was operational for the Mark IV in 2528. It would later be adapted for use with the Mark V armor.
	Mark IV/CQC Variant	Introduced in 2548, the CQC variant was designed for boarding action and MOUT. It would later be adapted for use with the Mark V armor.
	Mark IV/EOD Variant	Manufactured by the Materials Group in 2531, the EOD variant is designed for explosive device handling. It would later be adapted for use with the Mark V armor.

Appearances

The visual appearance of the Mjolnir Mark IV has changed considerably every time it has appeared in fiction. This has led to confusion of whether these are separate variants or if the differences are simply aesthetic in nature. Frank O'Connor stated in an email that the Cole Protocol and Halo Wars versions of the Mark IV are "both simple correct variations of the same model." In Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide it is said that John's armor after being modified resembles the Mjolnir Mark IV.

Mark V styled

HW MK IV.

This version is introduced in Halo Wars, and has appeared in the Halo Legends episodes The Babysitter and Origins, the 2010 cover of Halo: The Fall of Reach, the comic Halo: Fall of Reach, Halo 5: Guardians, Halo Wars 2, the story Something Has Happened from Halo: Tales from Slipspace, and Halo: Collateral Damage. In this version, the armor plating for the body, arms and legs are more akin to the Mark VI, with a bulky, angular chest plate and large, bulbous shoulder pauldrons. The helmet in terms of design is almost exactly like the Mark V's, and both Dr. Halsey's personal journal and the Halo: Reach Armory clarify that they are the same helmets, adapted for use on the later armor model. The armor also appears to contain magnetic holders for magazines and weapons.

Mark VI styled

Package MK IV.

This version appeared in the Halo Legends episode The Package (set in 2544) and Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn (set in early 2526). It is visually similar to the Mark VI, with some differences in the proportions and the details, such as thicker and more angular armor plating. There are differences in the helmets as well. Each SPARTAN's service number is also printed on the chest plate of the armor along with other markings such as white stripes on the chest and pauldrons. This, like all versions, also appears to have magnetic holsters for weapons but also sports compatibility for a combat knife sheath within the pauldrons.

Gray Team variant

TCP MK IV.

This version is shown on the Halo: Cole Protocol cover and in Terminals of Halo 2: Anniversary. It is a very rough, yet familiar in recognition to later incarnations of the Mjolnir Armor. Its chest plate is more angular than that of the other versions, somewhat reminiscent of the Mark V. The helmet of the Mark IV shows hints in design to both the Mark V and Mark VI helmet. The shoulder pauldrons consist of a semi-circular plate of metal to allow more freedom of movement in the shoulder area. The back shoulder plates also appear to be removable to attach additional equipment.

Homecoming

Homecoming MK IV.

The Mark IV worn by Daisy-023 in Homecoming resembles the Mjolnir/C variant, but is otherwise largely unrelated to it. The appearance of the armor is a stylistic and aesthetic nod towards multiplayer fans who use different colors in various environments and the various armor permutations, as well as an aesthetic concession to the anime studio as a means of possessing visual variety.

Trivia

• A Spartan III was reminded of the Green Knight when he first saw Kurt Ambrose in the Mjolnir Mark IV powered assault armor.

Gallery

Concept art of the Mark IV armor for Halo 5: Guardians.

The Cole Protocol displaying Gray Team's Mark IV armor.

A render of the Mark IV Armor of Halo Wars as seen in 360 Magazine.

A render of the near-final design of the Mark IV armor.

Concept render of the Halo Wars Mark IV.

The Mark IV armor worn by Jerome-092 in 2531.

Cal-141's Mk. IV armor, as seen in The Babysitter.

Spartans wearing The Package version of the Mark IV.

The 2010 cover of Halo: The Fall of Reach showing John-117 in Mk. IV.

The Mark IV helmet in Halo 5: Guardians.

John-117 in a Mark IV armor during the Battle of Circinius IV.

A Mark IV armor used by John-117 in 2526.