Warthog

The Warthog is the UNSC's primary ground transportation vehicle. It offers several variants typically differentiated by their mounted weapon systems. While some Warthogs are intended solely for transportation, most types provide exceedingly versatile anti-aircraft or anti-armor options, which further optimize the vehicles’ light armor and deft mobility.

The Warthog is a four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle with a forward-housed, low-profile, liquid-cooled, hydrogen-burning internal combustion engine (ICE) which powers an automatic infinitely variable transmission (IVT). Warthog’s maintain a large, light-armored frame, with heavy grade nanotube-lined wheels (previously inert-gas pocket) and a high suspension system. They bear a towing winch system with hooks somewhat resembling the tusks of a warthog (hence its name). The Warthog's hydrogen tanks can power the vehicle for up to 490 miles (790 kilometers) before refueling. In field conditions, operators can use the Graf/Hauptman solar-powered electrolysis and compression system to filter water or crack it into fuel. These features, coupled with a rugged, in-field resiliency have maintained the Warthog’s renowned legacy for decades.

AMG Transport Dynamics designed the first Warthog prototype in 2319. The Z-12 prototype vehicles quickly made a name for themselves due to AMG's well-crafted advertising campaign and exceptional engineering team that showcased the prototype’s impressive feature set and unparalleled functionality in the unpopulated outlands of both Luna and Mars. It was lauded as the vehicle that could go anywhere and do anything.

During the first eight months of the prototype’s existence, AMG Transport Dynamics received over three dozen exclusivity contracts, the largest and most lucrative being with the Colonial Military Administration (CMA). By 2321, AMG Transport Dynamics had secured a deal with the CMA to meet nearly all of their land-based transportation needs. It was at this time that the Z-12 became the M12 Force Application Vehicle (FAV) with the addition of a pneumatically powered swivel mount and armored body panels.

By 2329, the ‘Warthog,’ as it was called by CMA personnel, had become the most common military all-terrain vehicle, closely trailed by AMG Transport Dynamics’ Civet ATV. Over two hundred years later, after more than a dozen iterative changes, the M12 FAV remains the standard utility vehicle in UNSC service. The vehicle is so ubiquitous that all UNSC personnel are required to know how to operate and maintain the M12 FAV, regardless of military specialty or branch of service.