HERAKLES

Human Experimental Research And Knowledge Latent Enhancement Scheme, codenamed HERAKLES or Project 115, is an ultra-secret Terran military project, developed by the Bureau of Experimental Military Research. Its primary aim is to create human supersoldiers through genetic, biological and cybernetic enhancement. It began in 2330 and was only disclosed in 2661. The project is ongoing. Soldiers which are part of the programme are known as extraordinarii. 
The project was launched during the First Contact War in 2330. At the time, the planetary military capacities of the Ur-Han were unknown, thus it was deemed necessary to prepare for the eventuality of Ur soldiers being drastically more capable than Terran soldiers. The project was rushed and the majority of test subjects died during research. Nevertheless, by 2336 the first HERAKLES brigade was deployed. Following the end of the war the project was continuously worked upon and soldiers were improved. By the start of the Great Galactic War there were nine HERAKLES brigades. 
Despite its undeniable military success - HERAKLES soldiers having won every engagement they were deployed in with no casualties - the project has since its inception been controversial even among Terran leadership. As such, following the great disapproval of Chancellor Bukharin during his term in 2336-2342 the project became a pure technocrat-military cooperation. Whilst most of the initial test subjects were volunteers, they were not made aware of what they had signed up for. Additionally, several thousand prisoners from various forced labour worlds were used as test subjects against their consent to develop initial prototypes. From the 2500s, the project shifted from augmenting already adult humans to artificial creation of genetically superior humans. This drastically increased production capacity and individual unit efficiency but introduced a new set of ethical issues.