SPARTAN-IV Program (Earth-5875)

"You are Spartans now. You stand side by side with your Spartan brothers and sisters. You march into battle together--you do not charge ahead. You do not grab glory for yourself. You are naturally superior. We have made you better."

- - Musa Ghanem

The SPARTAN-IV Program is the fourth iteration of the SPARTAN supersoldier projects. Much like the original ORION Project, and unlike its predecessors, the SPARTAN-IV Program uses consenting volunteering adults from the UNSC Armed Forces, which range from both war veterans and promising young soldiers.

History
After the SPARTAN-IV was fully realized, Office of Naval Intelligence Section III authorized a prototype phase without the knowledge of the UNSC High Command, which was intended to produce super soldiers that would make MJOLNIR armor obsolete. From the initial ten participants, only one, Ilsa Zane, survived the augmentations, but was driven mad by the experience and detained by ONI.

After the end of the First Contact War, the SPARTAN-IV Program was penned by former SPARTAN-II Lieutenant Commander Musa Ghanem, who was crippled during its augmentation process. Citing the efficiency and success of the SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III programs, he advocated that the SPARTANs were of prime importance for the survival of humanity during the course of the war, being approved by Admiral Margaret Paragonsky. The initial plans were for both SPARTAN-III lead Colonel James Ackerson and SPARTAN-II head Doctor Catherine Halsey to take over the project, but following Ackerson's death during the Battle of Mare Erythraeum and Halsey's impressionist after the Battle of Onyx, it was decided that Musa himself and surviving Alpha Company and Noble Team member Jun-A266 would take over as heads.

The first class of SPARTAN-IVs consisted of 145 members and became active on January 7th, 2554, and after its initial success, Musa and Jun were able to fund a second class that started in January 7th, 2557, having 90% more members.