United Nations Planetary Forces

The United Nations Planetary Forces are the primary ground force branch of the United Nations Armed Forces. Under the control of the United Nations Security Council, the UNPF is responsible for defending UNE and allied worlds, search and rescue, peacekeeping, counterinsurgency, and the invasion of hostile worlds. The UNPF is an entirely volunteer force, drawing recruits from the population of UN-controlled worlds and those of its allies.

History

The history of the UNPF begins in 1934 CE, when the predecessor to the United Nations - the League of Nations - established an international observation force in the disputed Saar region of Europe. However, the first true peacekeeping operations were conducted in 1948 CE in what is today the Mesopotamian Urban Corridor. UN Peacekeeping Forces would continue to observe conflicts throughout the First and Second Cold Wars, into the mid-21st century CE. In 2044 CE, the collapsing Russian Federation's nuclear weapons became a serious concern for global security. However, neither the United States of America or the People's Republic of China would consent to their own military forces being placed under the other's command. To rectify this, the UN Peacekeeping Forces were reorganised as the UN Rapid Reaction Force (UNRRF) and placed under direct UN command.

The UNRRF, with substantial aid from other UN member states, defeated both sides in the Second Russian Civil War, and the nation was placed under the governance of a UN mandate. The UNRRF would, however, see limited use throughout the rest of the century, as the United States and China would continually veto its deployments. The UNRRF was later reformed yet again into the United Nations Armed Forces, which included the United Nations Land Forces. The UNLF was responsible for military operations conducted on Earth, primarily peacekeeping and counterinsurgency activity. The UNLF would participate in the Rainforest Wars, the Saharan Insurgency, and later the Mauritanian Police Action against Colonel Edward Tetchu and his brigade of renegade UNLF personnel.

Following the development of the hyper drive in 2198 CE and the first faster-than-light expeditions at the turn of the century, the UNLF took a back seat in importance to the United Nations Naval Forces. While UNLF troops were important in establishing security for early colonies, such as those on Horizon and Terra Nova, they were quickly replaced with dedicated civilian agencies for wildlife clearance and policing duties. As such, personnel numbers for the UNLF fell drastically, and the branch was relatively neglected for years.

First contact with the Scyldari Confederacy in 2216 CE led to serious questions being asked about planetary security. It was the UNE's view that Humanity had gotten lucky in making first contact with a peaceful species like the Scyldari, but if it had been a more aggressive species, the UNLF would have been grossly unprepared to fend off any invasion. These concerns would be proven correct in 2221 CE, when minor skirmishes with unknown warships at the edge of UNE space resulted in the appearance of an invasion force landing on the Concord colony. The small UNLF garrison was able to hold off the initial assault, but suffered heavy casualties during orbital bombardment.

Once again, the UNE saw itself getting lucky when the newly-contacted Tzynn Empire agreed to swiftly withdraw its forces from UNE space in order to deal with a more serious engagement against the Kel-Azaan Republic. The poor performance of the UNLF against the Tzynn invasion, despite holding the colony, led to a serious of major reforms in the following years. In 2224 CE the UNLF was renamed the United Nations Planetary Forces, which it continues to be named until this day.

Organisation

The United Nations Planetary Forces are under the overall command of the President of the United Nations of Earth, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The Planetary Forces are organised under the Department of Defense, headed by the Secretary of Defence, which oversees all UN military forces. Day-to-day control of the UNPF is under the command of the Planetary Chief of Staff, who is a sitting member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. While the President has overall command authority, in practice this power is delegated to the Secretary-General and Secretary of Defence, who sit on the Security Council with the President.

UNPF organisation begins at the squad (sometimes called section) level, comprised of ten soldiers. Squads are organised into platoons, which are organised into companies, then battalions, brigades, divisions, corps, armies, and army groups. The division is the basic combat unit of the UNPF, and typically a single UNPF division and its equipment can be contained within a single transport ship for logistics purposes. In addition to ground force units, the UNPF also operates airborne and seaborne units, such as strike craft squadrons and oceangoing ship and submarine fleets.

Within the UNPF is the United Nations Special Operations Command, or UNSOC. UNSOC is responsible for a majority of UNAF special forces units, which perform duties such as counterterrorism, unconventional warfare, sabotage, psychological warfare, and other clandestine or politically sensitive operations. One of the most secretive, and ironically, famous UNSOC units is the Special Augmented Reconnaissance Commandos, genetically augmented supersoldiers capable of taking on a platoon by themselves.

Equipment

All UNPF troops are implanted with a cybernetic module at the base of their skull (or equivalent for non-Human species) upon their enlistment. This implant provides real-time information on critical medical, consumables, and location data in real time to UNPF officers as part of the large UNAF battlenet. Through this network-centric warfare, the UNPF aims to overwhelm and outmaneuver its opponents with powerful, precisely directed combined arms strikes. The centrepiece of this strategy is the heavy M5 "Tornado" main battle tank, armed with a high-velocity multipurpose gauss cannon and protected by both durasteel armour and a heavy shield generator. The Tornado's onboard fusion reactor powers these systems, and at the same time, allows it to achieve high speeds during tactical maneuvers.

The standard issue rifle of the UNPF is the M44A2 plasma rifle. After a rough start, with numerous instances of spontaneous system failures and coil misalignment, the M44A2 is now considered to be one of the premier plasma rifles in the galaxy. Featuring advanced all-weather optics capable of linking into cybernetic implants and helmet-mounted displays, it can operate in virtually any environment and is effective even against light armour. All UNPF combat personnel are issued with exoskeletons to augment their strength, and some assault units are even issued with full sets of power armour and personal shield generators. Due to their expense, they are limited in their deployment.

Aside from land warfare, the UNPF additionally operates a number of specialised vehicles for other environments. Rotorcraft, repulsorcraft, and a small number of traditional air-breathing aircraft form the backbone of the UNPF's organic air support capability. At sea, the UNPF operates a number of space-transportable seacraft, including both surface combatants and submarines. Submarines in particular are used as effective defence weapons, using hundreds of metres of ocean to evade enemy scans and protect themselves from counterattack while launching anti-starship missiles.

De Oppresso Liber

Founding Date

1948 CE(UNPKF)
2044 CE (UNRRF)
2131 CE (UNLF)
2224 CE (UNPF)

Type

Military, Army

Training Level

Professional

Veterancy Level

Experienced

Ruling Organization

United Nations Armed Forces

Subsidiary Organizations

• United Nations Special Operations Command

Location

Earth