M56 combat harness (Earth-5875)

The M56 combat harness is the battle armor used by operators of an M56A2 smartgun. Made from composite micromesh ballistic armor, the harness is attached to the smartgun through an articulation arm that also contains multiple different systems and functions for the weapon.

Overview
The M56 combat harness is one of the four main components used in conjunction with the M56A2 smartgun, alongside the Head Mounted Sight (HMS), the stabilized articulation arm, and the weapon itself. The harness is made of composite micromesh ballistic armor, with the intention of being heavily padded to ease it from chafing at the user's shoulders and hips. Upon opening the armor's backplate, it gives access to the processor, similar to a "black box" line replacement unit (LRU), which can be plugged and unplugged, the latter, to be replaced in a firefight if the situation calls. The shoulder pieces of the harness are attached to the breastplate of a UNSC Marine's M52B Body Armor.

In order to prepare the smartgun, the operators' first action is the don the harness. Once its use, the smartgun's stabilized articulation arm is attached to the user's left hip mounting and plugged in the armor through a coaxial cable to the processor and power outlets of the breastplate. The operator then plugs the Head Mounted Sight into their armor's tracking communication system, with the smartgun tracker being jacked into the processor by an injected universal connector.