Project FORTRESS

Project: FORTRESS was the primary naval design, development, and production plan for the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) and the Colonial Military Administration (CMA) from 2447 to 2528. The project was the result of a growing concern about perceived deficiencies in the navies of both the CMA and UNSC. Project: FORTRESS remained a key element of starship development until the Covenant invasion in the 2520s, when it was effectively replaced by Project: STARLIGHT FORTITUDE. Two notable subprojects initiated under the auspices of FORTRESS were Project: ARSENAL and the 2495 Fleet Expeditionary Frigate. 
==Overview==
Project: FORTRESS can be divided into four primary phases of development and construction. 
===Phase 1: 2450s & 2460s===
*The UNSC focused on the security and patrol of the Inner Colonies, resulting in several powerful carriers, battleships, and cruisers that carried potent main guns. While the UNSC did not neglect the development of escort ships and auxiliaries, the Admiralty remained concentrated on tremendously powerful capital ships and cruisers. 
*The CMA focused on the Outer Colonies, producing designs intended to fulfill lengthy patrol operations and customs enforcement, as well as ships and craft optimized for colonial support work and the establishment of new colonies. 
===Phase 2: 2470s & 2480s===
*The UNSC focused on power projection and expeditionary capabilities in the 2470s and 2480s as the organization began to push its authority into the Outer Colonies. New UNSC designs were encouraged to feature greater endurance, range, and cargo capacity, all while maintaining or expanding firepower. The early 2480s also saw the Admiralty greenlight Project: ARSENAL, an endeavor by a specialized team of naval architects and engineers to design increasingly lethal starships and starship weaponry. While ARSENAL produced several classes in the 2480s, such as the Jäger expeditionary cruisers and the Ballistician light destroyers, the ARSENAL team's earliest major success came in 2490 with the Gladius-class heavy corvettes. 
*The CMA remained concentrated on colonial support operations and frontier security. Aware of growing instability in the Outer Colonies, the naval architects and officers from both the CMA and the UNSC collaborated on a number of revolutionary or grand designs, which would later come to fruition in the 2490s as the Able-class heavy destroyers and the Punic-class supercarriers. 
===Phase 3: 2490 to 2495===
*Following the successes of 2480s and the developments underway in ARSENAL, the UNSC initially launched a design campaign for improved planetary and system defenses as well as a revitalization effort aimed at the Fleet's enormous auxiliary forces. While this drive did result in several new ship classes and defense platforms, the outbreak of the Insurrection proper in 2494 brought an abrupt end to this area of development as the UNSC pivoted heavily to reacting to the expanding violence in UEG space. 
*The CMA, for its part, had already shifted focus to developing high-speed reaction forces across the Outer Colonies. While the budgetary demands of the Punic-class supercarriers strained the available resources of the CMA, the organization dug deep enough to fund the development of dozens of escort ships, patrol vessels, and customs craft. Following the explosion of violence in 2494, the CMA found its naval funding quadrupling as the UEG reacted financially to the dangers of the Insurrection. 
===Phase 4: 2495 to 2526===
*With the Insurrection underway and spreading across the Outer Colonies at horrifying speed, the UEG massively increased funding for both the UNSC and CMA with a demand that the rebellions be brought under control and contained as quickly as possible. While both organizations attempted to cover any perceived inadequacies and provide powerful countermeasures to the ongoing catastrophe, a number of key capabilities surged to the top of the priorities list. Chief among them was expeditionary capabilities that would enable the rapid deployment of troops and equipment to hotspots throughout the Colonies; while the UNSC maintained a fleet of expeditionary cruisers and carriers and the CMA operated several new supercarriers (with more in production), the crisis demanded far more numerous means to quickly deploy forces. Thus, the UNSC launched the 2495 Fleet Expeditionary Frigate program, encouraging designers across UEG Space to contribute radical designs. 
*The UNSC's specialized naval weapons development team at Project: ARSENAL likewise saw their funding increase absurdly following the insurrection. Under monumental pressure from the Admiralty, the ARSENAL team reacted with frenetic production and began producing radical designs, resulting in a flurry of new destroyers, cruisers, and corvettes. The pace of development by the ARSENAL team was unmatched in 2495 and remained uncontested for the duration of both the Insurrection and the later Human-Covenant War. 
*While the CMA was eventually laid low by scandal and subsumed by the UNSC in the 2510s, Project: FORTRESS continued unabated until the arrival of the Covenant in UEG Space in 2525. Only when it became clear in 2526 that the alien invaders were intent on eradicating Human life from the galaxy did the UNSC formally terminate FORTRESS and inaugurate a new development project for the defense of UEG Space: STARLIGHT FORTITUDE. 
==Fortress designs==
===Fortress I===
*(2450) Redoubtable-class heavy corvettes
*(2452) Sovereign-class heavy battleships, Commonwealth-class heavy cruisers
*(2454) Steadfast-class light carriers
*(2456) Ardent-class colonial cruisers #, Champion-class super destroyers #
*(2457) Hannibal-class super-heavy frigates
*(2458) Formidable-class super-heavy cruisers, Commodore-class mobile dockyard 
*(2459) Zhukov-class armored assault carriers, Indefatigable-class heavy sloops
*(2460) Condor-class heavy carriers
*(2462) Agamemnon-class heavy frigates #, Rudra-class heavy corvettes
*(2464) Rome-class supercarriers
*(2466) Action-class light destroyers
*(2467) Audacious-class light battleships
===Fortress II===
*(2472) Daring-class heavy destroyers, Tranquility-class hospital ships
*(2473) Orion-class assault carriers
*(2474) Relentless-class colonial cruisers
*(2475) Epoch-class heavy carriers, Expeditious-class heavy cruisers
*(2476) Royal Oak-class heavy battleships
*(2477) Fidelity-class light cruisers
*(2478) Skirmisher-class light frigates # (ARSENAL)
*(2479) Bonaparte-class light battleships, Scholte-class light frigates #, Kilimanjaro-class replenishment ships
*(2481) Sentinel-class light destroyers, Katyusha-class light frigates # (ARSENAL)
*(2484) Jäger-class expeditionary cruisers (ARSENAL), Cossack-class heavy frigates (ARSENAL)
*(2486) Falchion-class heavy corvettes (ARSENAL)
*(2487) Ballistician-class light destroyers (ARSENAL)
*(2489) Distant Tide-class combat support ships
===Fortress III===
*(2490) Punic-class supercarriers, Advantage-class light carriers, Able-class heavy destroyers, Gladius-class heavy corvettes (ARSENAL)
*(2491) Intrepid-class colonial cruisers, Chasseur-class light destroyers (ARSENAL)
*(2492) Chasseur-class light destroyers (ARSENAL)
*(2493) Valiant-class super-heavy cruisers
*(2494) Hammarskjöld-class transport schooners
===Fortress IV===
*(2495) 2495 Fleet Expeditionary Frigate, Hopeful-class hospital ship, Tunguska-class mobile dockyards
*(2496) Tenacious-class heavy cruisers, Great Gustav City-class light expeditionary frigates (2495-FEF), Enforcer-class light frigates (2495-FEF)
*(2497) Centurion-class heavy battleships, Excalibur-class light destroyers (ARSENAL), Three Red Rivers-class light frigates (2495-FEF)
*(2498) Resolution-class light battleships, Aeolus-class expeditionary frigates (2495-FEF)
*(2499) 624 Hektor-class light carrier (2495-FEF), Janissary-class expeditionary cruisers (ARSENAL), Hillsborough-class heavy destroyers, Razor-class light prowlers
*(2501) Tartarus-class siege destroyers (ARSENAL), Gallant Galloper-class light frigate (2495-FEF)
*(2502) Lancer-class light corvettes (ARSENAL)
*(2503) Guangzhou-class light carriers
*(2504) Broadsword-class heavy destroyers (ARSENAL)
*(2505) Forceful-class colonial cruisers
*(2506) Warrior-class super-heavy destroyers
*(2507) Heaven's Vanguard-class expeditionary cruiser (2495-FEF)
*(2508) Murmansk-class escort carriers, Halberd-class light destroyers (ARSENAL)
*(2509) Newfoundland-class light battleships
*(2510) Halcyon-class light cruisers, Point Blank-class command prowlers
*(2514) Conquistador-class super-heavy corvettes (ARSENAL)
*(2515) Stalwart-class light frigates, Eclipse-class light prowlers
*(2516) Shockwave-class light battleships, Parthian-class light destroyers (ARSENAL)
*(2517) Zealous-class light cruisers
*(2518) Tomahawk-class heavy destroyers (ARSENAL), Morning Star-class super-heavy frigates (ARSENAL)
*(2520) Marathon-class heavy cruisers, Charon-class light frigates, Sahara-class heavy prowlers
*(2521) Landsknecht-class super-heavy destroyers (ARSENAL)
*(2522) Vindictive-class heavy battleships, Radiance-class super cruisers
*(2523) Paris-class heavy frigates