Although only produced in limited numbers, the unqualified success of the AV-306 Sarissa Attack Gyrodyne took even its designers surprise, and although most were destroyed during the desperate defence of Earth, the recovering FLEETCOM deemed the design worthy of building upon. The Halberd is the Sarissa's successor, and though built for the same purpose and with most of the design features intact, there were a number of radical improvements, a result of the technological exchange that came after the UNSC-Sangheili Alliance.